The NFL is set to release the schedule for the 2025 season Wednesday night and you know what that means: Reservation time for Eagles fans.
This is what we already know:
The Eagles will open the season Thursday Sept. 4 in a night game at Lincoln Financial Field.
The Eagles have a total of eight home games against the Cowboys, Giants, Commanders, Lions, Rams, Bears, Broncos and Raiders.
The Eagles have a total of nine road games against the Cowboys, Giants, Commanders, Packers, Vikings, Buccaneers, Chiefs, Chargers and Bills.
The Eagles will not play in an international game even though there will be a record seven of them this season with three games in London and one each in Dublin, Madrid, Berlin and São Paulo, Brazil.
It will be interesting to see how many prime time games the Eagles end up playing since they are the defending champion. The Chiefs have played in at least five primetime games every season since 2018, playing in a total of six in four of the last seven years. The Eagles played in four primetime games last season and six in 2023. Six is the most they’ve ever played in and it’s a good bet that’s the number they’ll be at for 2025.
Only a few fan bases in the NFL can boast a travel party like the ones the Eagles typically have when they hit the road. With that in mind as well as what might most benefit the Eagles as a team, we take a look at a wish list for the 2025 schedule.
1. The Detroit Lions as an opening night opponent
We do know the Eagles will open the season on Thursday night Sept. 4. That’s their reward for winning the Super Bowl. The league always wants a great game to start the season so the champions typically go up against a team that made the playoffs the season before and its usually from outside the division. The last time a Super Bowl champion opened against a division opponent was 2012 when the Giants played the Cowboys.
The Lions are a great opening night opponent for a couple of reasons. They were the best team in the NFC during the regular season in 2024, going 15-2. From a competitive standpoint, it would be good for the Eagles to get the Lions on opening day because they have both a new offensive and defensive coordinator so they’ll still be adjusting to those major changes. Yes, the Eagles have a new offensive coordinator, too, but they’re used to making that adjustment every season.
2. A Thanksgiving home game
This would be a good spot to put the second game against the Washington Commanders because a rematch of the NFC Championship would be a nice turkey day ending for the national television audience.
The Eagles are 6-1 on Thanksgiving with their only loss coming in 2015 at Ford Field during Chip Kelly’s final season as head coach.
The Eagles have the highest winning percentage (.857) among teams that have played at least five games on the holiday. The Eagles’ first two Thanksgiving games were at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1939 and the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1940. They were winless going into both of those games and won.
The Eagles have made two trips each to Dallas and Detroit, winning 27-0 in Dallas in 1989 and 33-10 in 2014. They beat Detroit 12-0 in 1968 and lost the 2015 game, which was the last time they played on Thanksgiving.
Their only other Thanksgiving game was in 2008 at home when Donovan McNabb threw four touchdown passes to beat the Cardinals after being benched four days earlier in Baltimore.
3. A trip to Kansas City after a bye week for both teams
Eagles-Chiefs has become one of the best AFC-NFC rivalries in league history. This, in fact, will be the fifth straight season the two teams have played each other. And both Eagles coach Nick Siranni and Eagles coach Andy Reid are masters at getting their teams ready after a bye week.
Reid went 17-2 when he had an extra week to prepare during his 14 seasons with the Eagles and he’s 15-6 in those situations during his 12 years with the Chiefs.
Sirianni’s Eagles, after beating Reid and the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX, are 6-1 with extra time to prepare during his four seasons. Reid beat the Eagles with an extra week to prepare in Super Bowl LVII, but Sirianni has won the last two meetings against Big Red with both of them following a bye week.
4. A trip to Green Bay in September
Please, please don’t make Eagles’ fans go to Green Bay in November or December. The Packers’ final regular-season game last season was played in a two-degree wind chill at Lambeau Field. Given the recent history between the teams, this one is probably going to be in primetime.
5. A trip to Tampa Bay in December
For the fifth time since 2021 the Eagles will be playing the Buccaneers in Tampa and they have not done well at Raymond James Stadium, going 1-4, including a couple of Wild Card playoff losses and an ugly loss last season. There’s no reason the Eagles should be dominated the way they have been by the Bucs, but if that were to happen again at least it would be nice if it happened in December when the fans could escape the chilly weather in the Northeast.
The heat was still unbearable when the Eagles played the Bucs in Tampa late last September with a real-feel temperature of 99 degrees at game time.
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Bob Brookover can be reached atrbrookover@njadvancemedia.com