2025 NFL Strength of Schedule: Who Has It Toughest? And Easiest?

By Bill Speros May 12th, 2025 12:10 PM EDT

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Determining the NFL’s Strength of Schedule (SOS) is both an art and a science — and this year, we’ve taken a data-driven approach. Bookies.com developed a model that evaluates each team's 2025 schedule based on:

The combined 2024 records of their 2025 opponents

The consensus projected win totals for those same opponents this season

The result? A comprehensive look at which teams have the hardest — and easiest — paths in the upcoming NFL season.

The Detroit Lions face the toughest schedule in the NFL this season, while the New England Patriots have the softest.

The NFL season begins on September 4, when the Super Bowl champion Eagles play host to Dallas on NBC. 

The full NFL schedule will be released on Wednesday. The 7 international games will also be unveiled on Tuesday. 

Who Has the Toughest Schedule in 2025?

🦁 Detroit Lions: Welcome To The Jungle (On The Road) 

The Detroit Lions come out on top — or rather, at the bottom — with the most difficult schedule in the league.

As a division winner in 2024, Detroit automatically faces other first-place teams in 2025. In addition to their usual NFC North rivals, they’ll face the AFC North this season.

The Lions’ road schedule is particularly daunting, with away games against the Ravens, Eagles, Commanders, Chiefs, and Rams, plus divisional road trips to the Vikings and Packers.
In total, seven of Detroit’s nine road opponents made the playoffs last year.

Combined 2024 opponent win percentage: .571

Average projected opponent win total: 9.44

Who Has the Easiest Schedule in 2025?

🏈 New England Patriots: Smooth Shave At Gillette?

The New England Patriots benefit from the league’s easiest strength of schedule heading into 2025. The Patriots’ 2025 opponents have an average projected win total of just 7.71, slightly above New England’s own projection of 7.5 wins. The Patriots are the only NFL team whose 2025 opponents have a combined average projected win total under 8 games. 

Last season, Patriots opponents posted a 124-165 combined record (.429) — 30th in the NFL.

New England will play three playoff teams on the road in 2025: Buffalo, Baltimore, and Tampa Bay, but only two playoff teams at home: Buffalo and Pittsburgh.

Combined 2024 opponent win percentage: .429

Average projected opponent win total: 7.71

What About The Champs?

🦅 Philadelphia Eagles: Not Far Behind

It won't be easy for the Eagles to repeat. Several players on the defensive side of the ball departed via free agency. The Super Bowl champion Eagles come in with the 7th-toughest schedule. Their first-place finish means they’ll face heavyweight AFC opponents like the Chiefs and Bills — both on the road.

2025 NFL Teams Ranked By Strength Of Schedule

Our 2025 NFL Strength of Schedule rankings were determined using a custom formula that combines:

• Each opponent’s 2024 win-loss record
• Each opponent’s 2025 projected win total.

NFL teams won 53.3% of home games last season. We weighed the numbers accordingly to break statistical ties between teams..

Teams are ranked by schedule difficulty. They are listed with the composite winning percentage of their opponents last season, the composite consensus of their opponents' win projections this season, and their Strength of Schedule Score. 

Detroit Lions .571 9.44

.563

2 New York Giants .574 9.24

.559

3 Green Bay Packers .557 9.21

.549

4 Chicago Bears .571 8.85

.546

5 Washington Commanders .550 8.85

.535

6 Baltimore Ravens .533 8.97

.532

7 Las Vegas Raiders .502 9.15

.532

8 Philadelphia Eagles .561 8.35

.530

9 Cleveland Browns .519 9.09

.528

10 Minnesota Vikings .557 8.50

.528

11 Dallas Cowboys .557 8.38

.524

12 Denver Broncos .505 8.88

.523

13 Los Angeles Chargers .522 8.71

.522

14 Houston Texans .481 9.06

.521

15 Kansas City Chiefs .522 8.59

.519

16 Seattle Seahawks .474 9.12

.516

17 Pittsburgh Steelers .526 8.09

.511

18 Los Angeles Rams .491 8.88

.510

19 Buffalo Bills .467 8.85

.506

20 Cincinnati Bengals .509 8.32

.506

21 Atlanta Falcons .478 8.68

.501

22 Carolina Panthers .457 8.79

.496

23 Indianapolis Colts .464 8.47

.495

24 Arizona Cardinals .457 8.62

.491

25 New York Jets .460 8.53

.491

26 New Orleans Saints .419 8.85

.491

27 Tampa Bay Buccaneers .481 8.44

.488

28 Miami Dolphins .474 8.24

.485

29 Tennessee Titans .450 8.56

.482

30 Jacksonville Jaguars .467 8.18

.481

31 San Francisco 49ers .415 8.88

.480

32 New England Patriots .429 7.71

.464

NFL 2025 Schedule Information

The full NFL schedule will be announced in May. 

The league has already set the “home” opponents of its 7 international games. 

Here’s the breakdown.

2025 NFL International Games

While nothing is official yet, The Athletic reports that the Chiefs are “the No. 1 franchise in contention” to play the Chargers in Brazil on Friday, September 5. 

Strength Of Schedule Methodology 

Here is the methodology used to compile our rankings: 

1. The Data

• Opponent Win Percentages From 2024: Data compiled once the 2025 opponents were made official after the end of the regular season. 
• 2025 Projected Win Totals: We used a consensus of the numbers posted by ESPN BET, DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars Sportsbook, bet365, and Fanatics.

2. Normalize and Combine Metrics

We weighed each metric evenly. The key was converting each projected win total into a winning percentage based on a 17-game season. 

• Normalize: Adjust both the average opponent win percentage and average opponent projected wins to a common scale, typically 0 to 1.​ 
• Combine: Calculate a weighted average of the two normalized metrics. Adjust weights based on the desired emphasis on past performance versus future projections.​

Formula:

Composite SoS Score = (W1 × 2024 Win Percentage) + (W2 × 2025 Projected Wins) 

Where W1 + W2 = 1. 

Example Calculation

Assume Team A has the following opponents:

• Opponent 1: 2024 Win Percentage = 0.75, 2025 Projected Wins = 12​
• Opponent 2: 2024 Win Percentage = 0.50, 2025 Projected Wins = 8​
• Opponent 3: 2024 Win Percentage = 0.60, 2025 Projected Wins = 10​

Calculations:

• Opponents Average 2024 Win Percentage: .6167​
• Opponents Average 2025 Projected Wins: 10 out of 17 (converted to a winning percentage of .588) 
• Composite SoS Score: Giving Equal weight to both the Opponents' Average 2024 Win Percentage and the Opponents' Average 2025 Projected Win Total (converted to a percentage) 
• The Math: (0.5×0.6167) + (0.5×0.5882) = 0.6025  
• The Answer: The 2025 Strength of Schedule would score as a .6025. 

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About the Author

Bill Speros

More About Bill

Bill Speros is an award-winning journalist and editor whose career includes stops at USA Today Sports Network / Golfweek, Cox Media, ESPN, Orlando Sentinel and Denver Post.