2025 NFL season

This article is about the American football season in the United States. For the Gaelic football season in Ireland, see 2025 National Football League (Ireland).

2025 NFL season
Regular season
DurationSeptember 4, 2025 (2025-09-04) – January 4, 2026 (2026-01-04)
Playoffs
Start dateJanuary 10, 2026 (2026-01-10)
Super Bowl LX
DateFebruary 8, 2026
SiteLevi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California
Pro Bowl
DateFebruary 1, 2026
SiteTBD
2025 NFL season is located in the United States
Patriots
Patriots
Bills
Bills
Dolphins
Dolphins
Jets
Jets
Bengals
Bengals
Ravens
Ravens
Steelers
Steelers
Browns
Browns
Colts
Colts
Titans
Titans
Jaguars
Jaguars
Texans
Texans
Broncos
Broncos
Chiefs
Chiefs
Raiders
Raiders
Chargers
Chargers
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AFC teams: West, North, South, East
2025 NFL season is located in the United States
Cowboys
Cowboys
Giants
Giants
Eagles
Eagles
Commanders
Commanders
Bears
Bears
Lions
Lions
Packers
Packers
Vikings
Vikings
Falcons
Falcons
Panthers
Panthers
Saints
Saints
Buccaneers
Buccaneers
Cardinals
Cardinals
Rams
Rams
Seahawks
Seahawks
49ers
49ers
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NFC teams: West, North, South, East

The 2025 NFL season is scheduled to be the 106th season of the National Football League (NFL). The season is scheduled to begin on September 4, 2025, with the NFL Kickoff Game. The regular season is set to end on January 4, 2026.

The playoffs are then scheduled to start on January 10, and conclude with Super Bowl LX, the league's championship game, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on February 8.

Player movement

The 2025 NFL league year and trading period will start on March 12. On March 10, teams will be allowed to exercise options for 2025 on players with option clauses in their contracts, submit qualifying offers to their pending restricted free agents, and submit a Minimum Salary Tender to retain exclusive negotiating rights to their players with expiring 2024 contracts and fewer than three accrued seasons of free agent credit. Teams were required to be under the salary cap using the "top 51" definition (in which the 51 highest paid-players on the team's payroll must have a combined salary cap). On March 12, clubs will be allowed to contact and begin contract negotiations with players whose contracts had expired and thus became unrestricted free agents.[1]

Positions key
C Center CB Cornerback DB Defensive back DE Defensive end[a]
DL Defensive lineman DT Defensive tackle FB Fullback FS Free safety
G Guard[b] K Kicker[c] KR Kickoff returner LB Linebacker
LS Long snapper MLB Middle linebacker[d] OT Offensive tackle OL Offensive lineman
OLB Outside linebacker[a] NT Nose tackle P Punter PR Punt returner
QB Quarterback RS Return specialist RB Running back S Safety
SS Strong safety TE Tight end WR Wide receiver
  1. ^ a b May sometimes be referred to as an edge rusher (EDGE)
  2. ^ Also known as offensive guard (OG)
  3. ^ Also known as placekicker (PK)
  4. ^ Also known as inside linebacker (ILB)

Draft

The 2025 NFL draft will take place around Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on April 24–26.[2]

Preseason

The majority of training camps will be opened on July 23. The preseason will begin on July 31 with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game.

Regular season

The season is planned to be played over an 18-week schedule, beginning on September 4. Each of the league's 32 teams plays 17 games, with one bye week. The regular season is then scheduled to end on January 4, 2026; all games during the final weekend will be intra-division games, as it has been since 2010.[1]

Each team plays the other three teams in its own division twice, one game against each of the four teams from a division in its own conference, one game against each of the four teams from a division in the other conference, one game against each of the remaining two teams in its conference that finished in the same position in their respective divisions the previous season (e.g., the team that finished fourth in its division would play all three other teams in its conference that also finished fourth in their divisions), and one game against a team in another division in the other conference that also finished in the same position in their respective division the previous season.[3]

The division pairings for 2025 are as follows:[3]

Four intra-conference games
AFC East vs AFC North
AFC South vs AFC West
NFC East vs NFC North
NFC South vs NFC West

Four interconference games
AFC East vs NFC South
AFC North vs NFC North
AFC South vs NFC West
AFC West vs NFC East

Interconference game by 2024 position
NFC East at AFC East
NFC North at AFC West
NFC South at AFC South
NFC West at AFC North

Highlights of the 2025 season are planned to include the following:

  • NFL Kickoff Game: The season will begin with the Kickoff Game on September 4, 2025, hosted by the defending Super Bowl LIX champion.
  • NFL International Series: NFL owners voted in 2023 to increase the number of International Series games on the 2025 schedule to eight.[4] London, England will host three games, with two at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and one at Wembley Stadium. One game will be played in Germany at Olympic Stadium in Berlin. Another will be played at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, in Madrid, Spain.[5][6] The venues for the other games will be announced at a later date.
  • Thanksgiving: Three Thanksgiving Day games are planned to be held on November 27, with Detroit and Dallas expected to host traditional afternoon doubleheader, and a primetime game between opponents yet to be announced.[7]
  • Christmas: Christmas Day, December 25, lands on a Thursday for the first time since the league expanded from a 16-game schedule to 17 games in 2021. The league had never staged a Thursday Christmas Day game in its history before. Prior to 2021, a Thursday Christmas Day normally fell on the final week of the regular season when the league preferred not to schedule any Thursday games that would have given teams a competitive advantage with more rest between it and the opening round of the playoffs. It is expected that at least one game will air in the Thursday Night Football slot along with two additional afternoon games (due to Netflix's contract with the league made last season and Fox's Christmas contract that allows that network to air Christmas games when it falls on a normal day when the league plays games).

Flexible scheduling rules

This is the third season that the league's flexible scheduling system includes Monday Night Football games and increased the amount of cross-flexing (switching) of Sunday afternoon games between CBS and Fox.[8][9][10]

NFL owners will vote on whether flexible scheduling rules will continue for Thursday Night Football. They were initially approved in 2023 on a trial basis, then carried over into 2024 after no Thursday games were flexed during that first season.[11]

Postseason

The 2025 playoffs are scheduled to begin with the wild-card round, with three wild-card games played in each conference. Wild Card Weekend is planned for January 10–12, 2026. In the Divisional round, scheduled for January 17–18, the top seed in the conference will play the lowest remaining seed and the other two remaining teams will play each other. The winners of those games will advance to the Conference Championship games scheduled for January 25. Super Bowl LX is scheduled for February 8 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Head coaching and front office changes

Head coaches

Team Departing coach Interim coach Incoming coach Reason for leaving Notes
Chicago Bears Matt Eberflus Thomas Brown TBA Fired After a 4–8 (.333) start including a 6-game losing streak, Eberflus was fired as head coach on November 29, 2024, after being hired in 2022. During his two and a half season tenure, Chicago was 14–32 (.304) with no playoff appearances.[12]

Brown, the team's offensive coordinator, was named as interim head coach. This was his first head coaching position at any level.

New Orleans Saints Dennis Allen Darren Rizzi TBA After a 2–7 (.222) start including a 7-game losing streak, Allen was fired on November 4, 2024, after two and a half seasons as the team's head coach. During his tenure, the Saints were 18–25 (.419) with no playoff appearances.[13]

Rizzi, the team's special teams coordinator, was elevated as interim head coach. This was his first experience as NFL head coach. He was the head coach of New Haven and Rhode Island with a combined record of 18–23 (.439).

New York Jets Robert Saleh Jeff Ulbrich TBA Saleh was fired as head coach on October 8, 2024, with a 20–36 (.357) record (2–3 in 2024) after being hired in 2021.

Ulbrich, the team's defensive coordinator, was named interim head coach.[14] This is his first head coaching position.

General managers

Team Departing general manager Interim replacement Incoming general manager Reason for leaving Notes
New York Jets Joe Douglas Phil Savage TBA Fired Douglas was fired on November 19, 2024, after six seasons. Savage, the team's senior personnel advisor, was named interim GM. Savage previously served as general manager of the Cleveland Browns from 2005 to 2008.[15]

Stadiums

This will be the final season in which the Buffalo Bills will play their home games at their current Highmark Stadium, as their New Highmark Stadium is scheduled to open in time for the 2026 season.[16]

Media

National

Linear television

This will be the third season under 11-year U.S. media rights agreements with CBS, Fox, NBC, and ESPN/ABC along with its Spanish counterparts ESPN Deportes, Fox Deportes, and Telemundo Deportes.[8] Under these linear television rights:

  • Sunday afternoon games are split between CBS and Fox. Both networks will continue to carry the Sunday afternoon AFC and NFC packages, respectively. Each network is scheduled to air ten doubleheaders, with both networks airing one in Week 18 and another week yet-to-be announced. When the initial schedule is created, CBS and Fox will be able to specify a limited amount of games involving teams from their respective conference that they want to air, but otherwise the league was free to schedule games regardless of conference.[17] On Thanksgiving, Fox will have the early Detroit game and CBS the late Dallas game.[8] CBS also has the option of producing alternative broadcasts of select games on Nickelodeon.[8] And Fox also has the option to air a Christmas game.[18]
  • NBC will continue to air Sunday Night Football, the NFL Kickoff Game, and the primetime Thanksgiving game.[8]
  • ESPN will continue to produce Monday Night Football and the doubleheader on the last Saturday of the season. Four MNF games and the Saturday doubleheader will be ESPN/ABC simulcasts. Three weeks will feature two MNF games split between ABC and ESPN.[8][19][20] Selected games will also feature the alternative Manningcast on ESPN2.[21]
  • NFL Network will air selected International Series and late-season Saturday games.

Streaming

  • This will be the fourth year of a 12-year deal with Amazon Prime Video and Twitch to exclusively stream Thursday Night Football.[22] This will also be the third season that Prime Video/Twitch will stream the game on the Friday after Thanksgiving.[7] DirecTV has an agreement with Amazon to distribute Thursday Night Football games to business establishments.[23]
  • Peacock will simulcast NBC's games.[8] This will also be the third season in a six-year deal that the platform will exclusively stream one selected regular season game.[24] Peacock's exclusive game was distribute to business establishments via Peacock Sports Pass on EverPass Media.[25]
  • ESPN+ will simulcast select games on ABC, including games being simulcast on ESPN, as well as select Manningcasts.[8] This will also be the fourth year of a 12-year deal that the platform will exclusively stream one selected regular season game.[26] ESPN+'s exclusive games will be distributed to business establishments via the ESPN+ for Business package on DirecTV.[27]
  • Paramount+ will simulcast in market and national CBS games.[8]
  • Netflix will exclusively stream at least one game in 2025, as part of a three year deal.[28]
  • This will be the third season out of a seven year deal that the NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market sports package will stream on YouTube TV, as well as on YouTube's Primetime Channels service as a standalone subscription option.[29] DirecTV and EverPass Media will also distribute NFL Sunday Ticket to business establishments.[30][31][32]
  • The league's streaming service NFL+ will continue to live stream in-market regular season and postseason games on mobile devices only, radio broadcasts for all games, most out-of-market preseason games and a live stream of NFL Network on its base tier, and replays of games along with a live stream of NFL RedZone on its premium tier.[33]

Postseason

All four broadcast partners will air at least one Wild Card round game, with CBS and Fox airing a AFC and NFC Wild Card game, respectively. NBC will air the Sunday night game under the fifth year of its seven-year deal.[34][35][36] ESPN/ABC will broadcast the Monday night Wild Card game, its last in a five-year deal.[37][38] Fox will air a second game in the wild card round as part of its rotation with CBS and NBC. This will also be the second postseason that Amazon Prime Video will exclusively stream a Wild Card playoff game under a multi-year deal.[39]

This will be the third season that all four broadcast television partners air one divisional playoff game per season (ESPN/ABC, Fox, CBS, and NBC).[40]

NBC will televise Super Bowl LX in the annual rotation of Super Bowl broadcasters.[41] Under this rotation, NBC has the Super Bowl during the same years it has its Winter Olympics coverage. Super Bowl LX will join Super Bowl LVI as the second time that the game is scheduled on a date within the date range of an ongoing Olympics event (and the third to be on a Olympic Year), the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.[42]

References

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  6. ^ "Berlin to host regular-season NFL game in 2025". NFL.com. December 11, 2024.
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