The NFL viewership machine just keeps on rolling. 

Already by far the most dominant entity on U.S. television, regardless of genre, and coming off a banner 2023 season with across-the-board increases in viewership, key Week 1 games for the league have shown more strong results.

The run of big audiences began Thursday with the season opener featuring the Chiefs, the two-time defending champions, and the Ravens, drawing the NFL’s biggest kickoff game audience, now at an updated average of 29.2 million. NBCUniversal’s Peacock followed on Friday with an average of 14.2 million for an exclusive stream of the NFL’s first game in Brazil, involving the Eagles and Packers. That figure was the second-biggest live audience ever on Peacock, trailing only the record-setting figure in January for an NFL wild-card game.

Then on Sunday:

• An average of 23.8 million on Fox Sports for the Cowboys-Browns game that marked the high-profile debut of new Fox Sports lead NFL analyst Tom Brady. Despite the blowout win for Dallas that was largely devoid of on-field drama, the game was up 46% from the comparable game to open last season, and was the network’s most-watched Week 1 game since 2020.
• An average of 22.7 million on NBC Sports for the Lions’ overtime win (above) over the Rams in the season debut of Sunday Night Football. That figure was 3% higher than the comparable Cowboys-Giants Sunday prime-time opener to begin the 2023 season. The Thursday and Sunday nights combined to give NBC Sports its best two-game NFL opening weekend since 2015. 

There are definitive challenges still in front of the NFL as it seeks another season-long ratings boost, including the upcoming U.S. presidential election and fewer simulcasts of ESPN’s Monday Night Football on sister broadcast network ABC. But the initial results for the 2024 season can give the NFL and its domestic media partners further optimism. 

The NFL’s opening week concludes with the MNF opener involving the Jets and 49ers, but that game has been marred somewhat by the ongoing carriage dispute between DirecTV and ESPN parent company Walt Disney Co. 

One day after Tom Brady made his NFL broadcasting debut on Fox, the former quarterback’s longtime coach Bill Belichick made his own official entry into the league’s TV analyst ranks. Belichick’s first appearance on the ManningCast came during Jets-49ers, a role he’ll serve during all 11 alternate presentations of Monday Night Football on ESPN2 this season.

“We’ve had a lot of battles on the field,” Peyton Manning said as he welcomed Belichick a few minutes after the game started. “It’s an honor to be your teammate.”

Peyton and Eli Manning have always rotated through guests during their MNF broadcast, but this season, Belichick will be the only other regular voice during the first halves of games, with various athletes and celebrities cycling through the second halves. On Monday night, that was Adam Sandler and Chiefs defensive end Chris Jones.

Belichick signed off Monday night just before halftime.

Back to Work

This was the final of half a dozen on-camera debuts for Belichick and his many roles in sports media this season. The six-time Super Bowl–winning head coach had already started his work with The Pat McAfee Show, his ESPN+ show with Peyton Manning, Inside the NFL, the Let’s Go! SiriusXM program, and Underdog Fantasy.

Those roles will keep the 72-year-old Belichick in the NFL spotlight, mostly on Mondays and Fridays, as he provides analysis on the prior weekend’s games and previews upcoming matchups for his various media partners. Belichick also joined Instagram last week and already has nearly 400,000 followers.

On Sunday, ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter reported that Belichick, despite his growing media empire, “still would like to return to coaching in 2025, but only in the right situations with good jobs.” A full season on multiple NFL airwaves could make Belichick a prime candidate for open coaching positions this winter.

Hours before the Cowboys kicked off their season, America’s Team and Dak Prescott (above) agreed to a four-year, $240 million deal—a $60 million average annual value (AAV) that is the highest in league history.

However, based on recent history, another quarterback should pass Prescott for AAV before the beginning of the 2025 season. Aside from the COVID-19-marred 2020 season, the AAV record has been broken every year by a new player for the last decade. Joe Burrow held the crown last year at $55 million, Aaron Rodgers the year before was at $50 million, and Patrick Mahomes was at $45 million in 2021.

Of course, AAV isn’t the be-all and end-all for player contracts—guaranteed money and overall contract value matter as well. But AAV is an indicator of the market value of quarterbacks every year, so visibility comes with it.

The yearly market reset for quarterback salaries coincides with the league’s rising salary cap, which has gone up an average of 11.9% each season over the last three years. And there’s little reason to believe it won’t shoot up again in 2025.

Who could be next in line to be the highest-paid NFL player?

Next Year’s Options

Brock Purdy: Players are eligible for a contract extension following their third season in the NFL, which is how Burrow received his deal in 2023 and Kyler Murray received one of the league’s biggest contracts the year before. Next year, the 2022 draft class will be eligible for their extensions—but it’s on pace to go down as one of the weakest quarterback classes in league history. 

Purdy, the last pick in that 2022 draft, is the only quarterback from that class to start in Week 1 this season. While Purdy still has his critics, he led the 49ers to the Super Bowl last year and has been a consistent winner through his first two seasons. San Francisco’s performance this year could determine whether Purdy surpasses Prescott—perhaps with a deal in the $65 million per year range—or just about matches him, similar to how Trevor Lawrence and Jordan Love matched Burrow’s deal this summer.

Josh Allen: The Bills quarterback is unquestionably one of the league’s best, but a six-year, $258 million deal signed in 2021 ($43 million per season) has kept him outside of the top 10 for AAV. While Allen is signed until 2028 and has an opt-out in 2026, Spotrac laid out how the Bills could theoretically completely restructure his deal and offer him a five-year contract that could rival Prescott’s AAV.

However, the likelihood of that happening isn’t high simply because no team has ever agreed to renegotiate a contract with at least four years left. This could be a special case to keep one of the league’s best players happy, but the compromise from Allen may be through a slight AAV discount.

Coming in 2026

C.J. Stroud: Despite just starting his second season, one player from the 2023 draft class who could be in line for a record deal in 2026 is the Texans’ signal-caller. Burrow and Murray both received their extensions after leading their teams to the playoffs, and Stroud already accomplished that feat to cap off one of the greatest rookie seasons in history.

Aaron Rodgers: The four-time MVP may be worth monitoring, depending on the Jets’ performance over the next two seasons. While Rodgers is 40 years old, he’ll be a free agent in 2026, and a heroic run over the next two years could result in a short but expensive deal.