NFL Schedule Day 2025: Ranking Eagles’ most likely Week 1 opponent using recent history

Ryan OLeary

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NFL Schedule Day 2025: Ranking Eagles’ most likely Week 1 opponent using recent history image

The NFL offseason doesn’t end following draft weekend, especially for the reigning Super Bowl champions.

The next big announcement fans of the Philadelphia Eagles should be looking for is NFL Schedule Day, which this year arrives on May 14 with the release of the league’s full 18 week, 272-game schedule.

While teams already know who their 2025 home and away opponents will be, Schedule Day will attach dates and initial kickoff times to those matchups. The one thing we know right now for certain: The Eagles will host the NFL’s Season Kickoff Game at the Linc on Thursday, Sept. 4, as the champions of Super Bowl LIX.

What teams will Eagles be hosting in 2025?

The Eagles will have eight regular-season home games this season, and they’ll be hosting these opponents:

What were the most recent NFL Season Kick-off matchups?

This will be Philly’s first chance to host the NFL’s kickoff game since 2018, after the first Super Bowl title in franchise history. These are the league's six opening-day matchups in between:

  • 2024: Kansas City vs. Baltimore (13-4 prior year, lost in AFC Championship Game)
  • 2023: Kansas City vs. Detroit (9-8 prior year, missed playoffs)
  • 2022: L.A. Rams vs. Buffalo (11-6 prior year, lost in AFC Divisional Round)
  • 2021: Tampa Bay vs. Dallas (6-10 prior year, missed playoffs)
  • 2020: Kansas City vs. Houston (10-6 prior year, lost in AFC Divisional Round)
  • 2019: New England vs. Pittsburgh (9-6-1 prior year, missed playoffs) 
  • 2018: Philadelphia vs. Atlanta (10-6 prior year, lost in NFC Divisional Round)

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Who are Eagles' most likely opponents for Week 1?

Using recent history, let’s predict Philly's opponent for the season opener.

Over the past seven years, every road team had a winning record the prior year, outside of the 2020 Cowboys, who lost Dak Prescott to a brutal ankle injury in Week 5 that season. Prescott’s return, coupled with Tom Brady’s age-defying run, won the NFL’s ticket to kick-off 2021.

That makes the Bucs-Cowboys matchup sort of an outlier. So let’s eliminate every sub-.500 opponent on Philly’s home schedule right off the bat: Cowboys (7-10), Giants (3-14), Bears (5-12) and Raiders (4-13). That leaves us with a clear top-four:

No.  4 Denver Broncos 

The Broncos were one of the NFL’s surprise teams in the AFC last season, making a run to playoffs behind rookie quarterback Bo Nix. Denver finished a respectable 10-7 but got blown out on Wild-Card Weekend by the Buffalo Bills, 31-7.

Denver feels similar to the 2023 Lions, an up-and-coming team from the opposite conference of the reigning Super Bowl champs. But with all due respect to Nix and 2024 Defensive Player of the Year Pat Surtain, there’s not a ton of star power in Denver right now, outside of Sean Payton. 

No. 3 Washington Commanders

This matchup comes with plenty of juice. Not only are these teams bitter NFC  East rivals, but they met in the NFC Championship Game last season. There’s tons of pre-game fodder here with the Jalen Hurts vs. Jayden Daniels discussions, the return of Saquon Barkley, Washington's addition of Deebo Samuel, and the list goes on.

The NFL, however, likes to save big divisional matchups for later in the year. There were zero divisional matchups in Week 1 last year, and no intra-division season openers since Philly’s first Super Bowl title in 2017. The assumption here is that the league will save this marquee matchup for when both teams are back to full speed.

No. 2 Los Angeles Rams 

A rematch of last year’s picturesque snow-globe game at the Linc in the NFC Divisional Round? Sign us up!

The Rams (10-7) went on a five-game win streak late in the 2024 regular seasosn to clinch their playoff berth, and they were easily Philly’s toughest out en route to Super Bowl LIX. The Rams’ ascending young defense led by Jared Verse, and an offensive powerhouse led by Sean McVay, quarterback Matthew Stafford and superstar wide receiver Puka Nacua should put L.A. high on the league’s list... but not quite at the top.

No. 1 Detroit Lions 

Our clear front-runner, the Lions led the conference basically wire-to-wire and finished the regular season 15-2, but promptly got smoked in the Divisional Round by the Commanders at Ford Field.

There’s been a ton of changes in Detroit this offseason, specifically on the coaching staff with star offensive coordinator Ben Johnson taking Chicago’s head coach job, and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn landing with the New York Jets as their HC. The made-for-TV Dan Campbell remains, however, along with one of the best rosters in the league. 

The game we all expected to get in last year’s NFC Championship Game is the one we deserve on the first Thursday night of the season. Detroit at Philadelphia, with the Eagles' 2024 championship banner unveiled at Lincoln Financial Field. The NFL needs to make this happen, and the guess here is that it will.

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Ryan OLeary

Ryan O'Leary has spent his entire professional career in sports multimedia, working as journalist, editor, podcaster, and in live events as a content manager and show emcee. His career highlights include working as a podcast host and audio editor for USA TODAY Sports Media Group, where he led a series of NFL podcasts for the company’s top-performing NFL sites. A born and raised New Englander, Ryan’s career kicked-off in newspapers after graduating from the University of New Hampshire with a degree in journalism. He developed an affinity for small-town youth, high school and college sports, while also realizing his childhood dream of covering the Patriots in multiple AFC Championship Games. Ryan enjoys kicking it with family and friends, beating his dad and brother in chess, and arguing with anyone crazy enough to insist that Tom Brady isn’t the GOAT.