NFL schedule leaks: Seahawks rumored to start season at home vs. major rival

This would be a departure from the way the league has been running things the last few years. While divisional matchups have been found here and there early in the schedule, for the most part they have been backloaded into December.

The rumored leaks for the Week 1 slate of games seems to indicate they're going in the opposite direction this year, with several high-profile divisional matchups supposedly on the menu for the opening week.

As for this particular matchup, Seattle had been getting dominated by San Francisco in the post-Russell Wilson era, losing six straight matchups against the Niners until the Seahawks finally broke through in their most-recent meeting. In November Seattle won 20-17, boosted by a comined 180 receiving yards between Jaxon Smith-Njigba and DK Metcalf.

Then again, the 49ers we saw last season doesn't represent what that team is capable of. They were hit hard by injuries all season and wound up finishing 6-11, well below their projected win total going into last year.

Since then the Niners have lost a lot of their key role players, but the blue-chip pieces are all still there, so they will likely be a far more difficult obstacle to get past in 2025 than the last time we saw them.