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2025 NFL schedule release: Who will Eagles' opponent be in their Week 1 Thursday night opener?

The NFL's 2025 season opener will likely be announced Monday on NBC's "Today" show, followed on Wednesday by the official release of the entire schedule. One of the few things we know is the Eagles will kick off the season at home on Sept. 4.

One of the fun reveals of the week is who the Eagles will face. It will be nearly seven months since the Philadelphia won Super Bowl LIX, and we want to know what the NFL has cooked up for the regular-season opener.

Here is the breakdown of the most likely choice to face the Eagles on Sept. 4 to start the season, based on their home opponents:

Little chance: Giants, Raiders

The Raiders would actually be fun. Ashton Jeanty and Brock Bowers are exciting offensive weapons, and seeing Geno Smith make his Las Vegas debut would be intriguing. Still, no. We can do better.

I'd like to say there's no chance the Giants are the opening night opponent, but don't underestimate the NFL's undying belief that every single one of us wants NFC East games in prime time at every single opportunity. The two times the NFL has scheduled a divisional game for the traditional opener were 2008 and 2012, both times with New York hosting. The league wouldn't subject us to the Eagles pummeling the Giants ... right?

Maybe but likely not: Cowboys, Broncos

Again, any other division and we'd be safe from a Cowboys-Eagles opener. But the NFL hasn't gotten the message that we don't all set our clocks by whatever the NFC East is doing. We'll see.

The Broncos are a feisty team that made the playoffs last season and would give us a decent show. But there's not a lot of history between the teams and it doesn't have as much juice as some of the other matchups.

As Saquon Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles start their chase for another Super Bowl trophy, who will they face in Week 1? (Kara Durrette/Getty Images)

Would be fun: Commanders, Bears

OK, now we're getting somewhere. Again, the Commanders would be off the board if they played in any of the other seven divisions, but the NFL might not be able to help itself. And it's not like it would be a bad matchup; the Commanders were the only team to beat the Eagles from the start of last October through the Super Bowl. Jayden Daniels is always worth the watch. This sounds better as a midseason prime-time game, but I can't say the NFL won't make it the opener. NFC East and all.

The Bears weren't nearly as good as the Commanders last season but it would be a fun opener. Caleb Williams has been given every ingredient he needs to win. This would be Ben Johnson's NFL head coaching debut. The Bears haven't been good in a long time, but they have a huge fan base and this team should be a lot of fun seeing how Williams improves in his second year. If this is the opener, I don't think anyone would be too upset, though there would be a higher chance of an uncompetitive game.

Maybe too good for the opener: Lions

The NFL surprised us last season. The Ravens were the best possible opponent for the opener, but the league generally saves the best possible matchup for later in the season. We'd tune in to see any opponent against the reigning champion on opening night, after all. But last year the NFL gave us Ravens vs. Chiefs in the opener, and they delivered an entertaining game that went down to the last play.

The Lions would be the best possible team for this year's opener. They went 15-2 last season and we never got an Eagles-Lions matchup in the NFC championship game because Detroit got upset by the Commanders in the divisional round.

This would be an incredible matchup but the NFL has to ask itself whether it wants to use that for opening night or save it for a great Sunday night matchup in midseason? I'll guess the latter, though the NFL came out hot last season.

The favorite: Rams

This seems like the sweet spot. The Rams and Eagles had a tense game in the NFC divisional round last season. It was the closest the Eagles came to a loss on their way to a championship. Los Angeles has a fun team with Davante Adams being added to the offense alongside Puka Nacua. Matthew Stafford almost rallied his team to a playoff win over a great Eagles defense the last time we saw the Rams. The last time the Eagles won a Super Bowl, their Week 1 opener (2018 season) was against an Atlanta team that came up just short of beating Philadelphia in the divisional round.

This is the matchup that checks the most boxes for what the NFL usually desires in the opener. It's not a divisional matchup, and it's a good playoff-level opponent but the league could save the best possible foe for Fox or NBC later in the season. There's star power on the other side and a big market as well.

We'll guess Rams at Eagles will be the opener, as long as the NFL can resist giving us an NFC East matchup.

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