As Super Bowl champions, the Eagles have the honor of opening the NFL season with a home game on Sept. 4.
You can also expect that to be a marquee matchup. We’ll know for sure when the NFL schedule is officially released on May 14.
The Eagles, like every NFL team, already know who they’re playing in 2025. They just don’t know when, but they’ll find out soon enough.
In reality, their road schedule has more marquee matchups than their home schedule. Still, there are plenty of enticing possibilities for that prime-time season-opening game. We ranked them in reverse order of the ideal matchup for opening night.
But first, let’s look at the Eagles’ opponents:
Eagles 2025 home games
Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, Las Vegas Raiders, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Rams
Eagles 2025 road games
Commanders, Cowboys, Giants, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, Buffalo Bills.
No. 8, New York Giants
Last year, this matchup would have been ranked much higher with Saquon Barkley going against his former team. But we already saw Barkley run roughshod over the Giants in his first game against the Giants, getting 176 yards through three quarters before sitting out the fourth in an easy 28-3 Eagles win at MetLife Stadium.
It’s true that Eagles home fans didn’t get to see Barkley play his former team at the Linc because he and the other starters sat out the regular-season finale in order to rest for the playoffs. In the process, Barkley missed a chance to break Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards.
And while it will be intriguing to see No. 3 overall draft pick in edge rusher Abdul Carter, a Penn State star, the games against the Giants shouldn’t be very competitive. That is hardly a formula for keeping viewers’ interest into the fourth quarter.
No. 7, Las Vegas Raiders
This matchup inches just ahead of the Giants for two reasons: One, it will mark the first time former Eagles coach Chip Kelly will be at Lincoln Financial Field since the Eagles fired him with one game remaining in the 2015 season.
Kelly was hired as the Raiders’ offensive coordinator under Pete Carroll after six seasons as UCLA’s head coach, followed by serving as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator in 2024. Secondly, the Raiders should be more interesting this season after drafting running back Aston Jeanty at No. 6 overall. They also traded for QB Geno Smith. Still, the Raiders were 4-13 last season, and it’s hard to sell that as a season-opening game.
No. 6, Dallas Cowboys
Who would have expected the Cowboys to be this low on the list? But the Eagles outscored Dallas by a combined 75-13 last season, and it might not be much better this season for the Cowboys. The Cowboys do have a few stars in edge rusher Micah Parsons, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and cornerback Trevon Diggs. And QB Dak Prescott should be healthy after missing a large part of last season with a torn hamstring. But this is hardly the automatic prime time matchup that it used to be, evidenced by the fact that the Dec. 29 game last season was flexed to 1 p.m. from the prime 4:25 p.m. slot.
No. 5, Denver Broncos
The Broncos, behind rookie quarterback Bo Nix, made a surprising run to the playoffs last season. And they should be competitive this season as well with a stronger supporting cast around him. But the Broncos aren’t serious Super Bowl contenders, at least not yet.
The Broncos do boast perhaps the best cornerback in the NFL in Patrick Surtain. In the two teams’ last meeting, in 2021 in Denver, Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith made a great leaping TD catch over Surtain, his former teammate at Alabama. Since then, the Eagles added A.J. Brown and went to two Super Bowls. So Surtain is certain to have his hands full.
No. 4, Chicago Bears
It’s hard to see this matchup commanding much Week 1 prime-time attention even though Caleb Williams, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, should be better than he was last season when the Bears lost 11 of 12 to finish 5-12. The Bears have since hired offensive innovator Ben Johnson as head coach, then used their first two picks in the draft on receivers in TE Colston Loveland and WR Luther Burden. The Bears should be much improved, but seeing is believing.
No. 3, Washington Commanders
Typically, a rematch in the NFC championship game would be No. 1, especially since the Eagles’ Super Bowl rematch against the Chiefs is on the road. But the Eagles blasted Washington 55-23, and the NFL typically tries to avoid division matchups in the prime-time season opener. The Commanders should be more competitive against the Eagles this year after adding to Jayden Daniels’ supporting cast by trading for WR Deebo Samuel and LT Laremy Tunsil. This will be a prime-time game, but it would be much better served later in the season.
No. 2, Los Angeles Rams
Who can forget the “Snow Game, Part II” in the NFC divisional playoff round last season? That’s when Saquon Barkley ran for 205 yards and the Rams were a Jalen Carter-sack away from knocking out the Eagles as they were just 13 yards away from scoring a last-minute TD. The Eagles held on for a 28-22 win. The Rams will once again have a powerful offense led by QB Matthew Stafford with Davante Adams replacing Cooper Kupp at receiver. The Rams also have star WR Puka Nacua and running back Kyren Williams. The Rams will also have a stout defense led by edge rusher Jared Verse, who sacked Jalen Hurts twice in that playoff game.
No. 1, Detroit Lions
This was the playoff matchup everyone wanted to see last season as the Lions went 15-2 and secured the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. But the Commanders upset the Lions in the divisional round, so the Eagles didn’t have to travel to Detroit. Instead, the Eagles hosted the overmatched Commanders. The Lions were ravaged by injuries on defense, in particular to edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson.
But, of course, the focus of this matchup will be on offense − for both teams. The Lions are loaded with receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams and Sam LaPorta, along with running back duo Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. The Eagles have weapons galore as well.
Can the Lions defense stack up after getting destroyed by Washington in the playoffs? Can the Eagles slow down the Lions’ offense?
What better way to start the season than with a high-scoring shootout that goes down to the wire, in a possible NFC championship preview?
