The 9 Most Compelling Matchups Of the 2025 NFL Season

It won't take long for the Texans to discover whether their offseason offensive line makeover actually makes any sense. The plan looks to have some "ready, fire, aim" to it with the trade of Laremy Tunsil to the Washington Commanders, and the additions of several second-tier protectors at different positions. 

The reason this is so important in Week 1 is that the Rams already had a completely fierce pass-rushing front, and they added DI Poona Ford in free agency, and Michigan edge-rusher Josaiah Stewart in the third round of the draft. Stewart wasn't a big name in a loaded EDGE class, but his tape is for real. 

Stroud did his level best behind a severely leaky offensive line last season — his 76.4 passer rating when disrupted was the NFL's seventh-best — but there's only so much disruption any quarterback can take. 

There are far fewer questions about a Texans defense that ranked third in Defensive DVOA last season behind only the Philadelphia Eagles and the Minnesota Vikings. The Rams' offense looks to be a real beast this season, Matthew Stafford is as good as he's ever been when healthy, and it will be fascinating to see how the addition of second-round tight end Terrance Ferguson will change Sean McVay's offense. McVay has always preferred to have three receivers and one tight end on the field (11 personnel), but he intimated in his press conference after Ferguson was drafted that this could mark the time for change. 

_{Week 1: Baltimore Ravens at Buffalo Bills (Sunday, September 7, 8:20 p.m. EST)}

The Bills and Ravens faced off twice last season, and the results were decidedly different. In Week 4, Baltimore absolutely housed Buffalo, 35-10, as the Ravens ran 34 times for 271 yards and two touchdowns, and their defense had Josh Allen gasping for air. 

In the divisional round rematch, the Bills eked out a 27-25 win that could have been different were it not for Baltimore's three turnovers, and tight end Mark Andrews' dropped two-point conversion with 1:33 left in the game. The Bills went on to the AFC Championship game, and the Ravens were left to wonder what might have been. 

Both teams come into the 2025 rematch looking similar to their 2024 complexions, except that the Bills — who did a lot on defense with smoke and mirrors last season, added a lot in free agency (edge-rusher Joey Bosa, defensive linemen Michael Hoecht and Larry Ogunjobi, cornerback Tre'Davious White) and the draft (edge-rusher Landon Jackson, defensive tackle T.J. Sanders, and cornerback Maxwell Hairston) to better align their personnel with their outstanding defensive coaching. Not that the Ravens didn't give defensive coordinator Zach Orr his own pieces, led by first-round safety Malaki Starks and second-round edge-rusher Mike Green. 

What it tells is is that we had better be ready for a real headbanger to open the Sunday Night Football schedule, because these two teams are about as evenly matched as it gets. 

_{Week 1: Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears (Monday, September 8, 8:15 p.m. EST)}

The rubber meets the road early for the new-look Bears with offensive mastermind Ben Johnson in control, and a whole bunch of weapons for Caleb Williams — ostensibly to finally break Chicago's 75-year quarterback curse. Williams had a rough rookie season ( rougher than we thought, as it turns out ), but he did pretty well against the Vikings and defensive coordinator Brian Flores last season. In Weeks 12 and 15, both losses for the 5-12 Bears, Williams completed 50 of 78 passes for 531 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 96.7. And some of his deep passes showed his potential. 

Flores will not have forgotten those dimes Williams dropped, and he'll have some devious stuff to counter Williams' potential, as well as Johnson's outstanding receiver spacing and route concepts. Over the last two seasons, no coach has called more plays in which there were three or fewer rushers and six or more rushers, so Williams will know to expect the unexpected. As will Johnson, who was the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator last season. In 2024, Jared Goff completed 49 of 58 passes for 511 yards and three touchdowns, but he also threw two picks and was sacked six times. 

This new Bears offense could be a very big test for a Lions defense that lost head man Aaron Glenn to the New York Jets. New defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard gets a bump from linebackers coach, so it's not a systemic shift from Glenn's aggressive, press-heavy concepts, but it can always be a bit of a pause with a similar playbook if a different voice is reading it.  

_{Week 2: Philadelphia Eagles at Kansas City Chiefs (Sunday, September 14, 4:25 p.m. EST)}

If this is going to be a revenge game for the Chiefs after they got boat-raced by the Eagles in Super Bowl LIX — the game was far more of a route than the 40-22 score may indicate — Kansas City will have to bring more from an offensive tackle perspective, and that has been a drag on this franchise for too long. In that game, the Eagles sacked Patrick Mahomes six times, and hit him 11 more times, without blitzing once. It was one of the more remarkable gambles in recent NFL history , but Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio knew full well that Kansas City's tackles couldn't deal with Philly's personnel straight-up.

That turned the Chiefs' offense into a reductive enterprise throughout the season; it wasn't just the Super Bowl. Mahomes was the NFL's worst deep passer last season from a statistical perspective — he completed 24 of 76 passes of 20 or more air yards for 817 yards, two touchdowns, six interceptions, and a league-worst passer rating of 49.1. 

Right tackle Jawaan Taylor, with his armada of penalties and rather large contract , is penned in at right tackle, like it or not. Left guard Joe Thuney, who had to kick outside to tackle down the stretch, was traded to Chicago, to be replaced by Kingsley Suamataia. Left tackle will be helmed by former San Francisco 49ers backup Jaylon Moore in the short term. The good news is that the Chiefs were able to steal Ohio State's Josh Simmons with the 32nd pick in the draft. Simmons would have been a top-five prospect had he not suffered a torn patellar tendon in the sixth game of his 2024 season. If he comes back fully healthy this season, Simmons could eliminate one big question mark with authority.

The Eagles come into this game quite solid. Their only real personnel losses on either side of the ball in the offseason were DI Milton Williams to the New England Patriots, and cornerback Darius Slay to the Pittsburgh Steelers. I'm trusting Fangio to manage the damage. I have less faith in the Chiefs' abilities to mitigate their protection issues, because they've been there for years. This could be an early indicator as to how the Chiefs will rebound from what was a Super Bowl embarrassment. 

_{Week 3: Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots (Sunday, September 21, 1:00 p.m. EST)}

It's easy to argue that no team did more to improve its prospects this offseason than the Patriots, especially on the defensive side of the ball. The additions of DI Milton Williams, edge-rusher Harold Landry III, linebacker Robert Spillane, and cornerback Carlton Davis III should give defensive coordinator Terrell Williams all kinds of things to throw at the Steelers' quarterback du jour — Aaron Rodgers, perhaps. 

The real point of intrigue here, however, is how New England's new-look offense will fare against a Steelers defense that ranked eighth in DVOA last season, and could be even stronger in 2025 with the additions of defensive lineman Derrick Harmon in the draft, and cornerback Darius Slay in free agency. New England's receivers were patently unable to gain separation last season, which made things really tough for rookie quarterback Drake Maye. So, the Patriots went out and got Washington State receiver Kyle Williams with the 69th overall pick in the third round. Williams is the best pure separator among receivers in the 2025 class, and that should show up early. Adding vets Stefon Diggs and Mack Hollins gives Maye the more complete receiver corps he decidedly did not have in 2024. 

The Patriots also got Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson in the second round, and Henderson is the perfect lightning counterpart to Rhamondre Stevenson's thunder. 

If these new Patriots can get past the Steelers on both sides of the ball, maybe it could be the start of a turnaround season.

_{Week 10: Philadelphia Eagles at Green Bay Packers (Monday, November 10, 8:15 p.m. EST)} 

Last season, the Packers went with the idea that you don't need a No. 1 receiver to own the NFL. Other teams have successfully driven that car, but with an injured Jordan Love throughout the season, and playing in the NFC North (the league's most brutally competitive division) the margin for excellence was pretty thin. Green Bay got through the regular season with a 10-7 record, but losses to the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears in Weeks 17 and 18 proved to be an unfortunate preamble to what happened in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

That's when the Eagles beat the Packers, 22-10, and Love completed 20 of 33 passes for 212 yards, no touchdowns, three interceptions, and a passer rating of 41.5 — the second-worst of Love's career to date. Love was off that day, and it didn't help that Eagles defenders appeared to want the ball more than his own receivers did. 

Based on the draft, the Packers may have re-thought their bargain philosophy regarding receivers. For the first time since 2002 (Javon Walker), the franchise selected a wideout in the first round in the person of Texas' Matthew Golden, who has all the attributes to live up to his 23rd overall status sooner than later. 

Golden, who caught 58 passes on 83 targets for 987 yards and nine touchdowns for the Longhorns in 2024, might be the guy who could tilt the Packers' receiver room in all the right ways. Without that, and with the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings looking down at them from last season, the Packers would have been stuck in third gear longer than they should have. And this game is where the Packers get to test that theory out against the defense that scuttled them to end their 2024 season.

_{Week 11: Kansas City Chiefs at Denver Broncos (Sunday, November 16, 4:25 p.m. EST)}

If you believe in Bo Nix after Nix's rookie season (and you should; there was a lot to like), you can also wonder where the Broncos are light from a personnel perspective right now. Denver's defense is one of the NFL's best, which is why it ranked fourth in DVOA. The offense was a bit more of a mixed bag, ranking 16th in DVOA, but Denver's passing DVOA rose from 23rd to eighth as Nix found his feet in Sean Payton's uber -complicated offense. Former Jaguars tight end Evan Engram gives Payton the "joker" tight end he's always wanted and used so well in his offenses...

...and the selection of USF running back RJ Harvey in the second round of the draft also gives Payton the smaller, shiftier running back he's loved since the halcyon days of Reggie Bush and Darren Sproles.

The Broncos finished 10-7 last season and were blown out by the Buffalo Bills in the wild-card round of the playoffs, but they also set things up very well for the future. If the future includes contending for the AFC West — a division Denver hasn't won since 2025 (the last time the franchise won a Super Bowl), it'll be on Nix and that offense to climb the ladder, and vault over the Chiefs to do it. 

Denver's 38-0 Week 18 win over the Chiefs doesn't count because Kansas City was resting its starters in preparation for the postseason, but in Week 10 — a 16-14 win for the Chiefs — Nix completed 22 of 30 passes for 215 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 115.3. A re-run of that performance, with Denver's defense teeing off on that aforementioned Chiefs offensive line, would mean a lot in the grand scheme of things. 

_{Week 13: Jacksonville Jaguars at Tennessee Titans (Sunday, November 30, 1:00 p.m. EST)}

Jaguars-Titans games used to be easy fodder for Color Rush uniform debacles on Thursday nights, but no more. Now, these teams have the first two overall picks in the 2025 draft in quarterback Cam Ward and cornerback/receiver Travis Hunter, and that's the matchup to watch. We don't yet know how the Jaguars will deploy Hunter, but a lot of people still think he's a better cornerback than receiver, and given that the Titans can put an actual NFL offense on the field with Ward as their field general, it becomes fascinating all of a sudden.

Week 13 sees the first of two matchups between these AFC South rivals in the upcoming season. It was hard to see because Tennessee's quarterback situation was so weird in 2024, but Calvin Ridley is a legitimate No. 1 receiver. In addition, the Titans now have veterans Tyler Lockett and Van Jefferson via free agency. For these particular games, the most interesting guy to watch could be fourth-round rookie Elic Ayomanor from Stanford. Back in 2023, Ayomanor beat up the Colorado Buffaloes for 13 catches on 18 targets for 294 yards and three touchdowns. Hunter was on Ayomanor quite often, and Ayomanor proved to be the rare college receiver who could really put Hunter in a blender. 

For the Jaguars' offense, it's all about whether new head coach Liam Coen can help Trevor Lawrence to get to that proverbial next level. Lawrence will be helped by Hunter as a receiver to whatever extent, and second-year man Brian Thomas Jr. is a serious No. 1 target. The guy to keep an eye on here is Virginia Tech running back Bhayshul Tuten, who the Jags stole in the fourth round. Tuten has attributes similar to those of Bucky Irving, who Coen maximized as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offensive coordinator in 2024. 

_{Weeks 16/18: Washington Commanders vs. Philadelphia Eagles (TBD)}

In 2024, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels had perhaps the best rookie quarterback season in pro football history, and it was all going pretty well until Washington ran straight into the Eagles for the third time in the 2024 season in the NFC Championship game. In a 55-23 Eagles win, Daniels completed 29 of 48 passes for 255 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and a passer rating of 72.8. The Commanders had enjoyed an amazing rebound season from their 4-13 disaster the year before, and the Eagles were simply better. Hey, it happens. 

It was a different story in Week 16, when the Commandeers beat the Eagles 36-33, and Daniels proved to be as formidable a problem as anyone Vic Fangio's defense had faced all season long. On that day, Daniels completed 24 of 39 passes for 258 yards, five touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 99.1. For the most part, Daniels took the NFL's best defense in hand, and threw it over a cliff. 

This is the primary reason that Eagles-Commanders could be the NFC East's best rivalry, as much as everyone is compelled to talk about the Dallas Cowboys on a no-matter-what basis. It's also why both of these late-season games are wisely within flex territory.