Aaron Rodgers and Justin Fields nearly faced each other last year with the Jets and Steelers, respectively. Now they will, only on opposite sides. Rodgers is now with the Steelers after starting for the Jets in 2024, and vice versa for Fields. In Fields’ case, he only started the first six games, including the opener, due to injury.
But both Fields and Rodgers join an apparently very small group of quarterbacks who, after starting the opener for one team, have faced that team in the opener the following season. They will be just the seventh and eighth quarterbacks to ever do it, and it will be the first time two faced each other in the same opener.