The Eagles are too good to worry about a tough schedule. But, man, it’s tough.

The Super Bowl champions always get the toughest opponents. The Eagles are certainly no exception.

The Eagles' schedule is brutal. But Nick Sirianni's team will be favored to win most of its games anyway.Read moreDavid Maialetti / Staff Photographer

Published May 16, 2025, 5:00 a.m. ET

It isn’t news that the Eagles have the hardest schedule in the NFL. They are the Super Bowl champs. This is the way it is supposed to work. Life is hard. Wear your helmet.

What’s news is that, well, it’s reallllly hard.

Don’t get me wrong. By the time the Eagles unveiled their full and complete schedule on Wednesday afternoon, we already knew the opponents, the locations, and some of the dates. NFL teams don’t unveil their schedules as much as they run out of things they haven’t already leaked. The NFL long ago perfected the art of monopolizing the content cycle. But the slow-drip release of the schedule is its Mona Lisa. I mean that literally. It takes the league 16 years. At last month’s draft, the NFL staged an unveiling of the date when the schedule would be unveiled. Forget the fact that, by that point in time, each team’s “unveiled” schedule looked like the end version of the cardboard cutout of showgirl/owner Rachel Phelps in Major League.

So, no, there wasn’t much left to the imagination by the time Wednesday rolled around. Still, there’s something about seeing it laid out on paper that smacks. We knew the Eagles would be playing the NFC Central, football’s deepest division. We knew that they’d be playing eight other games against 2024 playoff teams, in addition to the ones against the Lions, Vikings, and Packers. We knew that would leave them with a mere six games against non-playoff opponents, two of them against the Cowboys. How would things look if the Giants weren’t in their division?

A good test of a schedule is to look at the hypothetical gimme games. Note that I said “hypothetical.” There are no actual gimme games in the NFL. But there are games that a team like the Eagles would be hard-pressed to lose. The Raiders at home, for instance. Or the Giants, on any football field in America. The more wins you can confidently pencil in, the easier the schedule.

I’ve already named all three of the ones on the Eagles schedule this year. At New York in Week 6. Home against New York in Week 8. Home against the Raiders in Week 15.

I’m sure some would argue for the inclusion of the Bears in Week 13. But, remember, that one’s on Black Friday at 3 p.m. It’s pretty much a Thursday night game. And nobody can confidently say that the Bears won’t be any good that deep into their first season with one of the game’s brightest minds at head coach (Ben Johnson) and one of its most promising arms at quarterback (Caleb Williams). It’s also sandwiched between road games against the Cowboys and Chargers.

One of the few favors the schedule-makers did the Eagles was giving them the Cowboys in Week 1. Not only is Nick Sirianni the best coach in the NFL with two-plus weeks to prepare — hey, check the records — but the Cowboys will be playing their first game under new coach Brian Schottenheimer and Dak Prescott will be playing his first game since Nov. 3.

From there, the gauntlet begins: at Arrowhead Stadium for a Super Bowl revenge game against the Chiefs. Home against the Rams in the No Snow Bowl. At the Buccaneers. Home against the Broncos. Then, thank God, the Giants.

The whole thing is a gauntlet, really. The Eagles have one more road game than home game, thanks to the NFL’s uneven 17-game schedule. They are the only team in the NFL that doesn’t play back-to-back games at home. They play the upstart Commanders in two of their last three games of the season, with a road trip to face Josh Allen sandwiched in between. There’s tough, and then there’s a well-done flank steak.

But, hey, sharpen my knife and pass me the peppercorn sauce. I’m all for it. Anybody complaining about the schedule is missing the point. The tough games are the fun ones. Did you ever believe in the Eagles more than when they beat the Ravens last season? What about when they blew out the Bengals?

Truth is, the Eagles have reached a point where they should embrace a schedule like the one they’ve just unfurled. The important thing to remember about each of the 17 games: The Eagles will be the best team on paper in every one.