It’s NFL Schedule Release Day!

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May 14, 2025

By Noonefromtampa

The NFL, in its attempt to make football a year-round news cycle, now has a televised schedule release event, airing tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern time on the NFL Network and NFL+. By the time you read this column, it is likely that a few of the Commanders’ 2025 game dates will have leaked out.

International Games

This year, teams will play international games in Berlin, Dublin, Madrid, London and São Paulo. Announced games:

9/5 – Chiefs at Chargers – São Paulo

9/20 – Vikings at Steelers – Dublin

10/5 – Vikings at Browns – London

10/12 – Broncos at Jets – London

10/19 – Rams at Jaguars – London

11/9 – Falcons at Colts – Berlin

11/16 – Commanders at Dolphins – Madrid

Holiday Games

Thanksgiving and Christmas will feature triple header games. The Christmas games will have two streaming on Netflix and one on Amazon Prime.

Peacock will exclusively stream a Saturday night game December 27 in Week 17, the league announced on May 12. The teams involved will be announced at a later date as part of the NFL’s late-season flexible scheduling.

Washington 2025 Opponents

The opponents are predetermined by place of finish in the prior season and a set of rotating groups of games across the other divisions in the AFC and NFC.

Home Away
Chicago Bears Atlanta Falcons
Dallas Cowboys Dallas Cowboys
Denver Broncos Green Bay Packers
Detroit Lions Kansas City Chiefs
Las Vegas Raiders Los Angeles Chargers
New York Giants Miami Dolphins
Philadelphia Eagles Minnesota Vikings
Seattle Seahawks New York Giants
Philadelphia Eagles

Washington Schedule Tendencies

Looking at Washington’s first game played over the past 15 seasons yields these statistics:

  • Washington opened at home 67% of the time and opened away 33%
  • Washington’s first game was on a Sunday 87% of the time and on Monday night 13%
  • Washington only played two opponents more than once in that span, the Eagles four times and the Cardinals two times
  • 40% of the time they opened against an NFC East opponent

So, from a numbers perspective, Washington should open at home on a Sunday against an NFC East opponent.

However, the NFL likes to feature a marquee game to open the season on Thursday night. In 2024, the opening game was a rematch of the 2023 AFC Championship game between the Chiefs and Ravens at Arrowhead Stadium.

If they repeat that kind of season opening game, Commanders at Eagles would fit the bill.

The two NFC championship teams were also featured in nationally televised games last year, with the Lions playing on Sunday Night and the 49ers playing on Monday night. The Lions’ game was against the Rams, another NFC playoff team. Two other 2023 playoff teams played a national game on Friday night, with the Packers at the Eagles.

So, who does Washington play in its opening game? Here are four likely options:

  1. Lions at Commanders on Sunday night in a playoff rematch
  2. Bears at Commanders on Monday in a rematch of Thursday night thriller from last season
  3. Commanders at Eagles in the season opener on Thursday night (Announced game is Cowboys at Eagles match-up)
  4. Commanders at Vikings on Friday night (current rumor has this as the Chiefs-Chargers game in Brazil)

With Washington coming off a tremendous season and a playoff appearance, it figures that Washington should get featured in a prime-time game on opening weekend, when it comes to Washington and the schedules the NFL assigns to them, any possibility is on the table, including a “routine” 1 p.m. Sunday game.

With having a premier, young quarterback and a successful playoff season behind the team in 2024, one would expect Washington’s number of prime-time games to increase. The NFL likes to feature media darlings such as Jayden Daniels to pull in younger fans, which is good for advertising demographics and in turn ad revenues for the NFL.

I expect Washington to play in at least 4 nationally televised games this season (outside of the national 4 p.m. Sunday games). My thoughts are:

  • 2 Sunday night games (marquee matchup – Vikings, Packers, Lions or NFC East opponent)
  • 1 Thursday night game (either the opener or the Cowboys Thanksgiving game)
  • 1 Monday night game (marquee matchup – Vikings, Packers, Lions or NFC East opponent)

Commanders Schedule Leaks (Announcement and Rumors)

Week 11 – 11/16 – @ Miami Dolphins (Madrid, Spain) [announced]

Week 16 – 12/20 – Philadelphia Eagles (Saturday national game) [announced]

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