The 2022 NFL season featured a few of the best revenge games in recent memory. A.J. Brown posted eight catches, 119 yards, and two touchdowns against the Titans just months after Tennessee traded him to Philadelphia. Russell Wilson got to face the Seahawks in Week 1 (in a losing effort), while Mike McCarthy’s Cowboys fell to his former Packers team in a Week 10 overtime defeat.
What are the best revenge games on the 2023 NFL schedule? Let’s run through the top 10 for next season and break down which players might have retribution on their minds.
Best Revenge Games on the Schedule for the 2023 NFL Season
10) Week 8: Baltimore Ravens at Arizona Cardinals
Feeling he was no longer a fit in Baltimore’s offense, Marquise Brown asked the Ravens to trade him last year. They obliged, sending him to the Cardinals with a third-round pick in exchange for a first-rounder.
Brown may come to regret that request. A foot fracture limited him to 12 games and 709 yards in his first season in Arizona, and his outlook for the 2023 campaign isn’t all that attractive based on the makeup of the Cardinals’ roster.
Arizona is expected to be among the worst teams in the league next year, while Baltimore has re-signed Lamar Jackson and hired a new, pass-friendly offensive coordinator in Todd Monken. Brown, meanwhile, will hope he can post a dominant game against the Ravens, even if he’s catching passes from Colt McCoy while Kyler Murray recovers from a torn ACL.
9) Week 13: Los Angeles Chargers at New England Patriots
Speaking of players whose 2022 seasons didn’t go as planned, J.C. Jackson was briefly benched by the Chargers last year before suffering a season-ending patella tendon rupture in Week 7. Not great for a player who inked a five-year, $82.5 million contract.
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Jackson may still have some hard feelings when the Chargers face the Patriots, who declined to re-sign him last offseason and reportedly didn’t even make him a contract offer.
“I guess they feel like they don’t need me,” Jackson told NBC Sports Boston in 2022. “I guess I can’t be that important to them. I know I am, but they’re not showing me.”
8) Week 3: Denver Broncos at Miami Dolphins
Bradley Chubb probably isn’t too angry with the Broncos. Denver only traded him to Miami because it acquired a first-round pick, and Chubb subsequently landed a five-year, $110 million deal from the Dolphins.
Still, Chubb will want to ball out when Denver faces Miami this season after he failed to live up to his draft billing over four seasons and change with the Broncos. The fifth overall pick in the 2018 draft, Chubb posted 12 sacks in his rookie campaign but later struggled with injuries and ineffectiveness.
7) Week 10: Carolina Panthers at Chicago Bears
The Panthers didn’t want to give up DJ Moore as part of their trade to acquire the No. 1 overall pick from the Bears, but the veteran receiver’s inclusion was “non-negotiable” for Chicago GM Ryan Poles.
Moore is still in a similar situation with the Bears as he would’ve been with the Panthers: catching passes from an up-and-coming quarterback on a potentially ascending team. But given that Moore had just signed a long-term extension with Carolina, he might have had some problems with being traded so soon.
6) Week 7: Pittsburgh Steelers at Los Angeles Rams
There’s no question Allen Robinson is in a better environment with the Steelers than he would’ve been with the Rams. Los Angeles is undergoing a hard reset and shedding nearly all its veterans in a turnaround attempt, while Pittsburgh could be a sneakily competitive team in 2023.
But Robinson’s quick ouster by the Rams has to hurt. Just 13 months after he signed a three-year, $46.5 million deal, Los Angeles moved him to the Steelers in exchange for a 17-spot leap in the seventh round of the draft.
5) Week 9: New York Giants at Las Vegas Raiders
Darren Waller struggled to stay on the field for the Raiders over the past two seasons and managed just 28 receptions in 2022. But that might not be the only reason Waller, whom Las Vegas traded to the Giants earlier this year, will want to show out against the Raiders.
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Maybe Waller is angry that Josh McDaniels leaked the news of his wedding to Las Vegas Aces guard Kelsey Plum. Maybe the Raiders weren’t satisfied with Waller’s rehab routine, as noted by former NFL exec Michael Lombardi, whose sons both work for Las Vegas. Either way, Waller could be looking for revenge when the Giants and Raiders face off.
4) Week 9: Indianapolis Colts at Carolina Panthers
NFL players aren’t the only people who might want vengeance during the 2022 campaign. Head coaches can feel slighted, too.
Frank Reich was unfairly fired by the Colts after starting last season 3-5-1 and had to watch his role be taken by former Indy center Jeff Saturday, whose only coaching experience had come at the high school level. Reich is now in a better situation with the Panthers, but he might not be able to not hold a grudge against the Colts.
3) Week 17: Cincinnati Bengals at Kansas City Chiefs
After acquiring him from the Ravens in 2021, the Chiefs used the franchise tag on Orlando Brown Jr. in 2022. Kansas City tried to extend him, reportedly offering the left tackle a six-year, $139 million deal that included a $30.25 million signing bonus and $95 million over the first five years.
Brown might be angrier at himself (or his agent) than he is at the Chiefs after rejecting that deal before eventually landing a four-year, $64 million pact from the Bengals this offseason. But he’ll have a chance at some sort of revenge when he attempts to block George Karlaftis and Charles Omenihu in what should be one of the best games of the year.
2) Week 6: New England Patriots at Las Vegas Raiders
Given that McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler have brought plenty of former Patriots to Las Vegas, this game will feature more than enough intrigue and rivalry potential. But let’s focus on three players who have a lot at stake.
Jimmy Garoppolo played in two conference title games and a Super Bowl with the 49ers, but there might be a part of him that wishes he could have been Tom Brady’s successor in New England. Patriots owner Robert Kraft reportedly forced Bill Belichick to trade Garoppolo in 2017.
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Jakobi Meyers certainly has a bone to pick with the Patriots after they replaced him with JuJu Smith-Schuster on a deal with a lower average annual value but the same guaranteed money as Meyers’ pact with the Raiders. As Meyers tweeted immediately after New England signed Smith-Schuster, the NFL is a “cold world.”
Meanwhile, both Meyers and Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson need to do something to make up for their laterals that handed the Raiders a last-second win in 2022. Meyers and Stevenson are on separate teams now, so both can’t come out ahead, but each surely wants to account for last season’s boneheaded error.
1) Week 9: Miami Dolphins at Kansas City Chiefs
Tyreek Hill said he wanted to be traded to the Dolphins for two reasons: He wasn’t getting enough targets with the Chiefs, and Miami was offering more guaranteed money.
Hill got his wish when Kansas City dealt him to the Dolphins last March for a package that included a first and second-round pick. He went on to post career-highs in receptions (119) and yards (1,710) while scoring seven touchdowns. Despite that excellent season, Hill doesn’t plan to take it easy against the Chiefs this year.
“Chiefs Kingdom, when the Miami Dolphins come to Arrowhead Stadium this year, guess what we gonna do?” Hill said in April. “Guess what we gonna do? I hate to say it, man. I hate to throw up the peace sign against y’all. I hate to do it, but guess what? I’m gonna be y’all worst enemy that day. I’m gonna be y’all worst enemy that day.”
Unfortunately for Hill, the Chiefs-Dolphins game will be played in Germany as part of the NFL’s International Series efforts, leading Kansas City defensive tackle Chris Jones to tweet that the league had “saved” Hill from coming to Arrowhead. Still, there’s nothing stopping Hill from posting a massive game against the Chiefs in Frankfurt.