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The NFL's 5 Hardest Schedules For The 2025 Season

Originally posted on The Spun | By Andrew Gould | Last updated May 5, 2025 4:25 PM ET

Perhaps more than any other sport, a schedule can make or break a football season.

A challenging schedule can place a Super Bowl hopeful at a significant disadvantage. Last year, the Cincinnati Bengals missed the playoffs after going 0-5 against the league's four conference-championship game participants.

On Monday, Warren Sharp published his strength of schedule rankings for the 2025 season. Rather than using last season's records, the analyst calculated his projections based on every team's Vegas win total.

Sharp noted that two teams among his top-10 hardest schedules made the playoffs last season. On the other hand, six teams among the 10 easiest slates clinched a postseason berth.

Here are the teams with Sharp's five-hardest schedules:

New York Giants
Cleveland Browns
Detroit Lions
Philadelphia Eagles
Minnesota Vikings

Outside of a tough NFC East bolstered by the Washington Commanders' emergence, the Giants face the NFC North and AFC West. Each division sent three teams to the 2024 playoffs.

Sportsbooks also expect two of their other opponents, the San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots, to take a significant step forward this season.

Elsewhere in the division, the Eagles go from Sharp's fourth-easiest 2024 schedule to fourth-toughest 2025 slate. They play a dozen of the same games as the Giants in addition to matchups against the first-place Los Angeles Rams, Buffalo Bills, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Facing the Giants twice saves the defending champions from having the league's hardest path.

All four NFC North teams have one of the 10 toughest schedules. There's no weak link if the Chicago Bears improve the way Vegas expects (8.5) under head coach Ben Johnson, and they also get the AFC North and NFC East.

Outside of Chicago, all of Detroit's road opponents had a winning record last year. The Lions must play the Eagles, Commanders, Rams, Bengals, Baltimore Ravens, and Kansas City Chiefs away from Ford Field.

For the second straight year, Sharp assigns the Browns his second-toughest schedule. Six games against the Ravens, Bengals, and Pittsburgh Steelers don't help, and they also must navigate the NFC North and the Buffalo Bills.

Meanwhile, Sharp concluded that the 49ers have the 2025 season's easiest schedule. They're followed by the Patriots, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, and Bills.

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

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