After a week full of rumors and leaks: The 2025 NFL schedule has officially been released.

Now, we still have 112 long, cold days until the Cowboys take on the Eagles to kick off the regular season on September 4th, but that doesn't mean we can't name some winners and losers from another unnecessary NFL publicity stunt tonight's breaking news.

Two quick notes before we get started:

• I fully believe your favorite team will go 17-0. Congrats!
• Roster turnover and year-to-year variance make it awfully difficult to have a grasp on what defenses are overly good and bad against certain positions, so for the most part, we'll refrain from getting too cute and attempting to make meaningfully actionable fantasy takeaways today.

As always: It's a great day to be great.

NFL Schedule Release Winners and Losers

Winner: NFL social media teams

Schedule release day has turned into a bit of a national holiday for NFL social media teams thanks to the opportunity to release creative videos to reveal their squad's opponents. This year was no different—and there were some doozies:

• The Chargers continued their hot streak by deploying a Minecraft-themed schedule release. The jabs at the Steelers were pretty great, and bonus points for re-enacting the rumored Ian Rapoport-Jordan Schultz Starbucks beef at the 4:20 mark.
• The Colts did something similar, but deleted it? Could have had something to do with the whole depicting Tyreek Hill as a dolphin that was arrested by the Coast Guard thing. Good thing the internet never forgets.
• Vikings fans got tattoos … of their opponents to reveal their schedule? Bold move, Cotton, but hey, hit up Fantasy Life's Thor Nystrom for the postseason edition.
• Who needs CouplaBeers when the Titans have Schedule-rizi for their fans? I audibly chuckled at "Imposter Syndrome" for the Texans.
• The Bills turned to AI for their schedule release. But it's not what you think: They went with the cool AI.
• With all due respect to all entries: First place goes to the Cardinals for making a music video rapped by their own LB Mack Wilson! Honestly, the song slaps.

I don't know if anyone will ever top the Titans' 2023 schedule release, but kudos to all the work and effort put into this year's contenders.

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Loser: Our families

The NFL has no chill when it comes to scheduling games on holidays:

• Thanksgiving will again roll with a trio of high-profile matchups: Lions-Packers, Cowboys-Chiefs, and Ravens-Bengals as the nightcap.
   
• Black Friday will once again feature an afternoon game, as this year the Eagles will host the Bears.
   
• Christmas features a triple-header of matchups: Cowboys-Commanders, Lions-Vikings, and Broncos-Chiefs. To be fair, these are the sort of games worth ignoring your family for.

Apparently the league drew a line at scheduling Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve matchups on Wednesdays, and New Year's is also free in Week 18. Honestly, I'm mostly just annoyed at Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson squaring off Thanksgiving evening when all the world (or at least the East Coast) wants is to take a well-deserved nap on the couch. Sad!

But yeah: Cowboys and Chiefs fans better get used to planning ahead to get some couch time scheduled for primetime. After all, nobody has more night games than Dallas (6) and Kansas City (7) this season, and the Cowboys are the first team in NFL history to play four games on Thursday in a single season. What could go wrong?

Speaking of…

Winner: Thursday night football … kind of

The full schedule of TNF games can be found right here. And guess what: There are some really good matchups! From Commanders-Packers in Week 2, to Bills-Texans in Week 12, and Cowboys-Lions in Week 14: Amazon Prime's underrated telecast should provide viewers with plenty of good ball this season.

But is that really what the people want?

*Sits back in rocking chair* Back in my day, we had color rush jerseys. We had the 0-9 Jaguars taking on the 2-7 Titans. We had bad matchups that were made even worse by both teams operating on limited rest, but dammit if we didn't cancel objectively cooler social plans to watch it anyway. Tough start/sit decisions are meant to be made hungover on Sunday morning, not at happy hour at 6 pm on a Thursday. Nothing ruins weekend vibes quite like watching your fantasy squad start the slate down 30 points because of a TNF shootout.

My message: Make Thursday night football bad again!

Loser: The Giants, specifically Russell Wilson

The seat is generally pretty hot for any starting NFL QB, but especially ones who just changed teams and have to fend off a first-round pick waiting in the wings.

Alas, such is life for the artist known as DangeRuss, who is staring down the barrel of a ROUGH start to his new career in New York:

• Week 1: at Commanders
• Week 2: at Cowboys
• Week 3: vs. Chiefs
• Week 4: vs. Chargers
• Week 5: at Saints

… and it somehow gets worse …

• Week 6: vs. Eagles
• Week 7: at Broncos
• Week 8: at Eagles
• Week 9: vs. 49ers
• Week 10: at Bears
• Week 11: vs. Packers
• Week 12: at Lions
• Week 13: at Patriots

There's a chance the Giants are favored against the Saints (sorry Cooterdoodle) and Patriots, but otherwise? Yikes. As much as Brian Daboll might want to let Jaxson Dart learn on the bench, it seems unlikely fans will be cool watching Russ into December if the team is off to what sure looks like a potential 2-10 start. 

Glass-half-full view: Maybe that loaded defensive line and Malik Nabers have what it takes to shock the world. Or maybe Jameis Winston can do Jameis things and supply joy to an otherwise horrible situation. That's all I got.

Easiest schedule? Probably the 49ers, but then again, it's May: We don't know sh*t about f*ck.

Loser: Cam Ward fans and truthers

The Titans join the Browns and Saints as the only three teams without a single primetime game. I think the world understands why the latter two squads won't be playing at night this season, but really? We couldn't throw the 2025 NFL Draft's No. 1 overall pick a bone? Thursday night color rush against the Jaguars was right there! C'mon!

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