The 2025 regular season schedule for the Denver Broncos is here, and it is filled with intriguing matchups, some tough breaks and even a little bit of Christmas spirit. While the Broncos caught some bad break with rest and bye weeks, they caught a break in terms of strength of schedule, especially compared to their division rivals.
The strength of schedule for every team this season! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/u87JLKfhy4
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) May 15, 2025
Solely based off of 2024 win percentages, the Broncos have the 15th-hardest schedule in the league (.505), right near the average. However, they do have the third-easiest SOS out of the four teams in the AFC West, with the Las Vegas Raiders being just behind Denver by .003 percentage points. The Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers are tied for the toughest schedule at .522.
Looking at the schedule from a visual standpoint, Denver doesn’t play any team in the league that is classified as a middle-of-the-pack, as all their opponents are classified as being more towards the easy or difficult side.
2025 Strength of Schedule Comparison
Each row shows a team’s opponents, sorted left to right from hardest to easiest
• 49ers SOS: 0.452 (avg opp wins: 7.2)
• Giants SOS: 0.539 (avg opp wins: 9.2)
Giants face just 2 opponents projected under 7.5 wins and 10 opps with 9.5+ pic.twitter.com/g45P7ZeUwY
— Doug Analytics (@Doug_Analytics) May 13, 2025
While everyone in the AFC West has to play the defending Super Bowl champions in Philadelphia, the Broncos don’t have to play the Bills, Ravens or Lions, all of whom are playing against Kansas City. Denver is also the only team in the division that gets to play against the New York Jets, one of the easiest opponents in the league.
The Broncos do have to play the Bengals and Packers, two challenging opponents that the other teams in the division don’t have to face, but both of those games are at home, with the game against Cincinnati coming on a Monday night, giving Denver an extra day to prepare. While their road game against Philadelphia comes on a short week, they do have a bye before traveling to the nation’s capitol to take on the Commanders. For three of the four most challenging non-Chiefs opponents, Denver caught some kind of break.
There are obviously a handful of common opponents between the four teams from the AFC West, as the division is playing against the NFC East and the AFC South, two of the weaker divisions in football.
The key for Denver will be to get off to a good start, as they face two easier opponents on normal rest to kick off the season. While they’re doing business as usual, the Chiefs and Chargers will have to go to Brazil to duke out a rivalry game off the bat. Since the Chargers are the home team in that matchup, they essentially lose their home game against the Chiefs, an opportunity that every team in the division tries to take advantage of given how difficult it is to play at Arrowhead Stadium. That’s another advantage for Denver.
If the Broncos can take care of business while their division foes battle tougher opponents, they will have a chance to compete for their first AFC West title since 2015, the year they won the Super Bowl.