Eagles Set to Host 2025 NFL Kickoff: Who Will Be Their Opponent?

The Eagles are now Super Bowl LIX champions, and the focus quickly turns to 2025 schedule watching—including the high-profile kickoff game that will be held at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field. 

The NFL is due to release its schedule for next season in May, in keeping with typical practice. The Eagles are set to host the season-opening game Sept. 4, continuing the league’s tradition of the defending Super Bowl champion having a primetime home game on a Thursday night to start the new season.

By terms of the league’s long-established schedule formula, the Eagles’ opponents for the 2025 season have already been determined, and the away team for that high-profile season opener in Philadelphia will be one of these eight possibilities:

• Chicago Bears
• Dallas Cowboys
• Denver Broncos
• Detroit Lions
• Las Vegas Raiders
• Los Angeles Rams
• New York Giants
• Washington Commanders

The NFL often hasn’t used the season opener for a game within a single division. Instead, the league has frequently shown a preference for a marquee inter-division or inter-conference matchup in that broadcast slot on NBC Sports—such as how the 2024 season started with the Ravens at the Chiefs, or how the 2023 season premiered with the Lions at the Chiefs, the 2022 season kicked off with the Bills visiting the Rams, and the 2021 season began with the Cowboys playing at the Buccaneers. 

Despite all that, the Commanders jump out as a notable possibility. The team had a dramatic rebirth this season under new owner Josh Harris, reaching the NFC championship game won by the Eagles in what was Washington’s best year in more than three decades. Across multiple sportsbooks, the Commanders are now the No. 7 favorite to win Super Bowl LX, further showing how much the team has improved. The kickoff matchup also has been a championship game rematch on multiple occasions, including this season’s Ravens-Chiefs clash that set a viewership record for the event.

Other attractive options for the kickoff game include the Lions, the top seed in the NFC playoffs before being upset by the Commanders; the Rams, who the Eagles beat in the divisional playoff round this season; and the Broncos, who reached the playoffs in 2024 for the first time in nine years.

The Eagles, meanwhile, have three notable away games that will be highly coveted by every NFL rights holder as the league completes the 2025 schedule: a Super Bowl LIX rematch against the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, a trip to Buffalo to face the Bills, and another to Minnesota to play the Vikings. The Buccaneers, Chargers, and Packers—all 2024 playoff teams—are also on Philadelphia’s 2025 away slate.