The NFL schedule for the 2025 season has been released and we now know who is playing who and when! And, as ever, the schedule is loaded with headline games and fun facts. Here are a few nuggets to impress your mates with this weekend!
- The New York Giants have the toughest schedule in 2025, based off the combined winning percentage of their opponents in 2024. Giants’ opponents won 57.4 percent of their games last term. The Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears (57.1 percent) have the second-toughest schedules. The San Francisco 49ers have the easiest with their opponents winning just 41.5 percent of their games in 2024.
- The defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles will play 11 games against teams who made the playoffs last season – most in the NFL. That gauntlet includes all four clubs they defeated on the way to lifting the Vince Lombardi Trophy last term – the Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams, Washington Commanders and Kansas City Chiefs. The Detroit Lions will also play 11 games against playoff teams from a year ago.
- The AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs will play 10 games against playoff teams from 2024. And their outstanding defense (ranked fourth in the NFL, allowing just 19.2 points per game) will be tested. The Chiefs face four of the top five scoring offenses from 2024 this season in Detroit, Buffalo, Baltimore and Washington.
- Of the 14 playoff teams from last season, the Buffalo Bills have the easiest strength of schedule in 2025 with their opponents winning just 46.7 percent of their games in 2024. The Bills face just six playoff teams from a year ago in Kansas City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Tampa Bay, Houston and Pittsburgh.
- There will be seven international games played in 2025 – an NFL record. The Los Angeles Chargers take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Sao Paolo, Brazil, before the Pittsburgh Steelers meet the Minnesota Vikings in Dublin, Ireland. Three successive London weekends will see the Cleveland Browns take on the Vikings at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, while the New York Jets and Denver Broncos will clash at the same venue a week later. The Jacksonville Jaguars will take on the Los Angeles Rams at Wembley Stadium, the Indianapolis Colts go head-to-head with the Atlanta Falcons in Berlin, Germany, before the Miami Dolphins and Washington Commanders play in the first regular season game in Madrid, Spain.
- In Week 8, Tua Tagovailoa’s Miami Dolphins will visit Michael Penix Jr.’s Atlanta Falcons. This contest will be notable because it should be the first game between left-handed quarterbacks since Michael Vick faced off against Chris Simms in a game between the Falcons and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2 of the 2006 season.
- The Kansas City Chiefs have the most prime-time games during the 2025 season with seven. Dallas, Philadelphia and Washington are next with six apiece.
- Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and Buffalo’s Josh Allen will meet for the 10th time in 2025. Mahomes is 5-4 vs Allen (1-4 in the regular season but a perfect 4-0 in the playoffs). The Bills have been knocked out of the playoffs by the Chiefs in four of the last five seasons.
- At least 11 NFL teams will have a different starter at quarterback in 2025, including the Seattle Seahawks (Sam Darnold), Tennessee Titans (Cam Ward) and Minnesota Vikings (J.J. McCarthy). The other teams are the Cleveland Browns, New York Jets, Las Vegas Raiders, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, Atlanta Falcons, New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints.
- As has become NFL tradition, the Philadelphia Eagles will kick off the 2025 season at home to the Dallas Cowboys. The defending Super Bowl champions are 20-5 in Week 1 since 2000.