The NFL will do it’s best to ensure that we avoid dreadful primetime games earlier than normal. According to Around The League, games can now be flexed into “Sunday Night Football” as early as Week 5, according to reports.
In the past, “flex scheduling” did not start until Week 11.
The potential flex games between Week 5 and Week 10 come with a stipulation. The NFL can’t change the tentative “Sunday Night Football” game every week. The league can flex up to two games total into Sunday night between Weeks 5-10. The rest of the flexible schedule procedures from previous years remains intact. After Week 11, the NFL can flex any Sunday night game.
As before, only Sunday afternoon games are subject to being moved into the Sunday night window. Thursday, Saturday, and Monday games are not affected. Flex scheduling allows the league to handpick a game to be moved into the Sunday Night NBC window, avoiding lackluster matchups.