2025 NFL toughest schedules: Commanders, Vikings, Raiders own hardest slates
We now know the full 18-week schedule for the 2025 NFL season.
Home and road opponents were announced well ahead of the May 14 schedule release and now we have full context for each matchup this season. That includes which weeks and what time slots each game will fill.
There were some surprises, like the Atlanta Falcons earning five primetime games (including two each on "Monday Night Football" and "Sunday Night Football") or Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward becoming the first No. 1 pick since 2017 without a primetime game all season.
Unsurprisingly, the Kansas City Chiefs lead the way with seven primetime games in 2025 followed by the Dallas Cowboys with six.
Some teams will have an easy schedule, at least from how things look prior to training camp. Others won't for multiple factors, primarily strength of schedule and rest differential. The latter is how many more days of rest an opponent has compared to a team leading up to a game.
For example, the Rams play the Ravens in Week 5 on Sunday. Baltimore will have played on Sunday the week before while Los Angeles will have played on Thursday. That means the Rams have three extra days off compared to the Ravens and earn a rest differential of plus-3 for that week. In turn, the Ravens have a rest differential of negative-3.
With those factors in mind, here are the five teams who got particularly tough schedules following this week's announcement.
2025 NFL schedule release: 5 hardest schedules
Las Vegas Raiders
Las Vegas has a new coaching staff and quarterback for 2025 and they have their work cut out for them in one of the toughest divisions in the league. The AFC West produced three playoff teams last season and all three are arguably better roster-wise than they were in 2024. On a pure strength of schedule basis, the Raiders do get a break in playing the AFC South and have games against the Browns at home and Patriots on the road.
What really hurts the Raiders is their rest differential which is a league-worst negative-19. The brunt of that comes in the second half of the season at negative-13, meaning they lose nearly two weeks of rest to their opponents after their bye. It'll be tough to mount a playoff push like that even if the team improves under Pete Carroll.
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings enter 2025 with a question mark at the most important position in the sport: quarterback. Minnesota's top pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, J.J. McCarthy, missed all of his rookie season with injury and could face a tough schedule in his first year as a starter.
Minnesota will do a lot of travel early on in the schedule with consecutive international games in Week 4 against the Steelers in Dublin, Ireland and Week 5 against the Browns in London. They'll get a bye after that to acclimate back to U.S. dollars and driving on the right side of the road.
But things are brutal after the bye. They host the defending champion Eagles before traveling west to take on the Chargers on a short week. Then it's another road game against defending NFC North champions Detroit and a home matchup against Baltimore. They face just two teams who had losing records in 2024 after the bye: Chicago (Week 11) and the New York Giants (Week 16).
Washington Commanders
The Commanders were one of the biggest surprises in the league in 2024 behind Offensive Rookie of the Year Jayden Daniels and a methodical, productive offense that kept them in close games throughout the season.
Things won't be easy for them this season. They're playing the eighth-toughest slate by strength of schedule based on 2024 win totals with games against the NFC North and AFC West. Things start out tough, too.
Washington will be at a negative-11 rest differential over the first nine weeks of the season, the worst mark in the league. That stretch includes road games against the Packers and Chiefs in primetime as well as primetime games against the Bears ("Monday Night Football" in Week 6) and Seahawks ("Sunday Night Football" in Week 9) fresh off a bye. Those latter two matchups could be tougher than expected given their opponents' extra rest.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh has a playoff-caliber defense and questions at quarterback entering 2025. That was true in 2024 and they still made the playoffs as a wild-card team before falling to the Ravens in the opening weekend of the postseason.
In 2025, things start out easier for Pittsburgh. Two road games against the Jets (Week 1) and Patriots (Week 3) sandwich a home tilt against the Seahawks in Week 2. They have the Dublin game against Minnesota and a bye to round out the first five weeks.
Pittsburgh gets one of the most favorable rest differentials in the first nine weeks of the season at plus-10. That is outweighed by the rest differential for the second half of the season at negative-14, the worst in the league in final nine weeks of the regular season. That stretch includes games against the Chargers, Bills, Lions as well as divisional foes Baltimore (twice) and Cincinnati.
Dallas Cowboys
Dallas is hoping for some improvement under new head coach Brian Schottenheimer in 2025. We knew ahead of the schedule release the Cowboys would have a tough slate for 2025; they're tied for fifth-hardest strength of schedule by 2024 win percentage.
But it's how the schedule is structured leading up to the playoffs that could prove disastrous for Dallas. They have a bye in Week 10 and are back in action on "Monday Night Football" against the Raiders in Week 11. That's when things get interesting.
Dallas plays Philadelphia in Week 12 before a short week ahead of a Thanksgiving tilt at home against Kansas City. Then they play the Lions, Vikings, Chargers and Commanders in succession with three of those games in primetime. That's six playoff teams in a row during the most important stretch of the season.