With the NFL draft complete, the league once again is wasting no time in getting fans ready to look ahead to next season.
The 2025 schedule release has been set for May 14. And though the league is largely dealing with a blank slate for now, details on some key matchups are sure to trickle out in the coming days. One slot that almost assuredly will be afforded a big reveal: the season opener.
Though it’s known that the Philadelphia Eagles will kick things off on Sept. 4 at Lincoln Financial Field, the defending champions’ opponent has not yet been unveiled. The Eagles host just eight home games, and the league has typically resisted putting divisional games in this window save for 2019, when it celebrated its 100th season by training the spotlight on the historic rivalry between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. And while there are some intriguing options, the eventual Super Bowl 59 rematch won’t be a consideration given that it’s set to take place at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium.
With the schedule release just two weeks away, USA TODAY Sports ranked all of the possibilities for the season opener from worst to best.
8. Las Vegas Raiders
It’s wild to think about how much has transpired for these two franchises since they last faced off in October 2021, when Derek Carr went 31-of-34 to nearly set the NFL’s single-game completion record en route a 33-22 win in interim coach Rich Bisaccia’s second game after Jon Gruden’s resignation. The Silver and Black have plenty of new pieces in place, including coach Pete Carroll, offensive coordinator Chip Kelly and quarterback Geno Smith. But other than first-round running back Ashton Jeanty, they’re all recycled entities. The Eagles are unlikely to occupy many 1 p.m. slots on Sundays this season, but this looks like one of the few matchups bound to be shunted to the side.
7. New York Giants
With the Saquon Barkley subplot officially out of gas after the All-Pro running back trounced his former team in last season’s return, this rivalry retakes its place as one of the NFL’s most lopsided affairs. Big Blue’s lone win in the last eight meetings came in January 2024, when the brutally battered Eagles continued their nosedive with a 27-10 loss to the Giants. Putting Russell Wilson against Philadelphia’s pass rush should result in an FCC warning rather than a prime-time slot. Between the massive competitive imbalance and the divisional dynamic, this is likely a complete non-starter.
6. Dallas Cowboys
This showdown was once destined to be a staple of the ‘Sunday Night Football’ schedule. But in 2024, Philadelphia rolled to two routs of Dallas with an aggregate score of 75-13. To be fair, Dak Prescott’s absence from both contests was a driving force in the Cowboys’ inability to find any sort of spark or mount a push once the deficit began to build. But with Brian Schottenheimer taking over as both coach and playcaller and the offense seemingly only growing more stale, this might be the least exciting the organization has been in some time. The Cowboys will assuredly find their way into plenty of the schedule’s spotlight games once again, but they don’t belong in this one.
5. Denver Broncos
By no means is this a bad matchup. After breaking the NFL’s second-longest active playoff drought at eight seasons, the Broncos are deserving of a brighter spotlight than the one they received last season. And Bo Nix could continue to outpace external expectations with another significant leap in his play. Still, as Denver showed in last season’s wild-card flameout against the Buffalo Bills, it’s not ready to run with the league’s top contenders just yet. Sean Payton’s crew very well may get there – but it won’t be in Week 1.
4. Chicago Bears
No team did more to transform itself this offseason. Between the arrival of first-time head coach Ben Johnson and the offensive line’s rapid transformation, there’s a legitimate reason to believe that the organization can make a sharp turn from the blunders that plagued Caleb Williams’ debut season. Watching how all of these pieces coalesce will no doubt be fascinating. But it’s a steep ask to except a group that went 5-12 in 2024 and lost 11 of its final 12 games to keep pace with the defending champs. This showdown is worthy of a standalone window – just not the first of the season.
3. Washington Commanders
Only a matchup this juicy could warrant breaking protocol for installing divisional games as the season opener. The Eagles’ 55-23 NFC title game rout might have soured some on the Commanders’ chances to measure up. But Jayden Daniels’ five-touchdown performance in a thrilling comeback win against Philadelphia in Week 16 last season reinforced that almost anything is possible for Washington when its star passer is in top form. With bold moves to acquire left tackle Laremy Tunsil and wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr., Dan Quinn and Co. seem intent on denying the Eagles the title of the NFC East’s first back-to-back champs since 2003-04. Expect Washington to be the new darling of NFL schedule-makers eager to show off a fresh young talent at quarterback, but it still seems like a stretch that this would get the nod.
2. Los Angeles Rams
Now we’re cooking. A rematch of last season’s NFC divisional playoff tilt feels like the first legitimate contender for the opener slot on this list. The early September setting would surely yield more comfortable conditions than the snowy scene in January, though it remains to be seen whether Los Angeles is any better prepared to corral Barkley than it was when he combined for 460 rushing yards in two meetups last season. Eagles fans also will surely love to rain more boos down on Jared Verse, even though the Rams’ breakout pass rusher followed up his harsh words for the Philly faithful by netting two sacks. While Los Angeles is largely running things back with the Matthew Stafford drama resolved, the receiving tandem of Puka Nacua and free-agent signing Davante Adams would be a telling litmus test for a young secondary now without Darius Slay Jr. providing a veteran presence. No one should have any objections if this is the choice.
1. Detroit Lions
A clash between the NFC’s top two seeds in the conference title game never materialized after the injury-ravaged Lions bowed out in the divisional round against the Commanders. Pitting these teams against one another to kick off 2025 would be a fitting way to show fans what they missed as well as what they have to look forward to. With Detroit breaking in two new coordinators, there will be plenty of intrigue in whether the abundantly creative offense and resilient defense can meet the lofty standards the units set the last two years.
And as Aidan Hutchinson embarks on what could be the league’s most compelling comeback push, facing Philadelphia’s formidable front would make for quite the welcome back to action from a fractured tibia and fibula. Above all, Dan Campbell’s crew can be counted on to rise to the moment in big matchups, just as it did in toppling the defending-champion Chiefs when the group was a somewhat surprising selection to kick off the 2023 campaign. Three years after the Eagles and Lions last met in a Week 1 tilt, the two could help shape the NFC race out of the gates by facing one another.