This one almost feels too easy. Sean Payton returning home to New Orleans is too big of a story to not be on primetime. It will be a storyline the entire week on sports talk shows and will be anticipated by both parties. This game should happen early in the season due to neither team having guaranteed success in 2024. Scheduling it early should ensure national attention is at its highest. 

This has been a high-profile matchup for over a decade. The last six games have been played on prime time, and it can be considered a slight rivalry between fan bases. Playing Dallas always leaves the option for a Thanksgiving day game. New Orleans won a  Turkey Day showdown between these two in 2010. 

It shouldn’t be surprising to see the Saints and Raiders face off under the lights. This is the “Derek Carr revenge game.” Carr’s former team made his wife cry and he’ll never forgive it. The usually buttoned up Carr likely won’t even pretend this is just another game. The NFL shouldn’t either. 

The most underrated rivalry in the NFL. These two typically combine for entertaining games. The addition of Kirk Cousins also makes the Falcons interesting for the first time since the Matt Ryan days. Adding a competent quarterback to a room of exciting skill players will make them an exciting matchup versus the Saints defensive backfield.

This option would be carried by the appeal of the Chargers. The first year of the Jim Harbaugh-Justin Herbert pairing in Los Angeles will likely result in multiple primetime games. The Saints could be one of them. The mostly one sided appeal would likely lead to this being a Thursday night game.