Chad Johnson isn’t a purist; that much is clear. At the face of value systems that say Sundays are sacred, there’s another reality that has the NFL, slowly but gradually, opening up the schedule more, whittling down Sundays’ stretch of games in an effort to feature more standalone games. In a nutshell, money and greed trump tradition.

Jason Kelce comes from the traditionalist point-of-view, the logic of which is certainly lost on former Bengals receiver Chad Johnson.

“Sunday is still the meat and potatoes of the NFL,” Johnson said on Nightcap this week. “Sunday is still the most important day of games slated at 1 o’clock, at 4 0’clock, and obviously your 7:30 game, maybe 8:25 games. So, certainly still the meat and potatoes of the NFL. But having those other games sporadically throughout the year during the weekdays… It’s about the money at the end of the day.”

This comes as Jason Kelce argued that the league was “getting away” from NFL Sundays, which he regards as an “institution”, on the New Heights podcast. His concern is valid, concerning how the NFL is phasing out its Sunday schedule slowly. But Chad Johnson outlined the main reason why the league is taking away from such an important tradition.

“It’s about the money, you understand? Follow the money, baby,” he said. “It’s always been about that. Now, they give you a different message publicly. But if you understand, you understand the game, you understand the ecosystem and the way they do things, and they’ve always done things, it’s about continuing to not only grow the game, but make as much money as possible doing so.”

Notably, Awful Announcing counted 197 Sunday-afternoon games for 2026, down from 211 in 2021. The 1.00 pm ET and 4:25 pm ET windows remain the core slots. CBS alone has 10 Sunday doubleheaders this season, with its 4:25 pm window being the most-watched slot for three years straight. But the games on weekdays are also getting more money in.

Last season, the most-watched game was the Week 13 clash between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Dallas Cowboys. Not many wanted to miss out on two of the biggest brands in the league locking horns with each other, even if it happened on a Thursday Night. The Week 13 Green Bay Packers vs Detroit Lions game is next on the list, and it was played on a Thursday, too.

Starry and high-octane matchups call for more viewership, more advertising opportunities, and, thereby, more money for the league.

Revenue generation is the engine behind all of the NFL’s plans to expand its footprint. The league keeps adding more games because it has found buyers willing to pay a premium for them. In fact, the league saw a 10% increase in total viewership last season from the previous year. But that’s really because fans are left with no choice, being bombarded by games during the season.

Streaming services can become a constant in the NFL

The dynamic shift Kelce is worried about connects directly to why the NFL is making these changes in the first place. On the Nightcap podcast, Shannon Sharpe explained why the league can’t stop, even if Sunday remains the core.

“These streaming services, they got hoards of cash,” Sharpe said. “They want to be taken seriously as a network. You got to have live sporting events. Number one sporting event to have is what? NFL football. ‘Now, we can’t get in on Sunday. What other day can we get it on? Can we get it on a Thursday?’ Amazon said, ‘We’ll take it on Thursday. Can we get it on Friday?’ At some point in time, these networks, CBS or NBC, they’re going to lose out cause they ain’t got [as] much money as Netflix. They ain’t got as much money as Amazon. They going to lose out. It’s that simple. NFL about a dollar now.”

Netflix has upgraded its deal with the league to jump from two games to five, including the season opener in Australia, Thanksgiving Eve, two Christmas Day matchups, and a Week 18 game. Amazon Prime Video, on the other hand, has a standalone Black Friday game on top of its usual Thursday Night Football window.

According to a thorough cost breakdown by insider Dov Kleiman, it could cost more than $1,000 for a fan to watch games on streaming services and cable TV for the entirety of the season. No wonder the league is capitalizing on this goldmine of an opportunity.

“In order to grow, in order to increase revenue, what must I do?” asks Sharpe. “I’ve got to add games. There ain’t no way, I mean, we’ve tapped out.”

In 2014, there were only 256 games. Then the league expanded the regular season from 16 to 17 games per team in 2021. Subsequently, teams are playing 272 games this year. The league clearly has no plans to stop.

That said, Jason Kelce’s nostalgia and worry make sense, but the reality is that the league has already moved on. Fans are paying for multiple streaming platforms just to watch the full season, and the more games the league can push through these platforms, the better. Chad Johnson’s “follow the money” isn’t a quote anymore – it’s the whole playbook.