Anticipation is building for the 2025 NFL season.
It’s been six long months since the Philadelphia Eagles lifted the Vince Lombardi Trophy at Super Bowl LIX, but the good news for fans is that football is just around the corner.
This week, in fact, is the last of 2025 without any NFL action — and it’s one that offers players a short break between the preseason and regular season.
Warm-up games kicked off at the end of July with the Hall of Fame clash between the Los Angeles Chargers and Detroit Lions, which debuted a new league rule.
Three weeks of preseason action, which took place between August 7 and August 23, followed.
Why are there no NFL games this week?
The simple answer as to why there are no games scheduled for this weekend is that preseason concluded last Saturday.
Each team, with the exception of the Lions and Rams, played three times over the past three weeks.
As Detroit and Los Angeles featured in the Hall of Fame Game, they played four instead.
When the NFL Competition Committee voted to extend the regular season to 17 games in 2021, the number of preseason games was reduced from four to three per team (with the exception of the two that compete in the Hall Of Fame Game).
Therefore, what had previously been the fourth week of preseason is now a game-less bridge between the on-field warm up and the beginning of the regular season.
Since the schedule change in 2021, every season has featured a break of at least 10 days between the final preseason game and the Kickoff Game, and this year is no different.
When will rosters be finalized?
Ahead of the new season, the NFL has imposed a roster cut-down deadline for all 32 teams.
While up to 90 players were allowed during preseason, that number must be cut to 53 by Tuesday, 26 August at 4pm (ET).
A number of names, including rookies Shilo Sanders and Desmond Watson, have already been released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Teams will then carry their active, 53-man roster into Week 1.
When is the 2025 NFL Kickoff Game and which teams are playing?
While fans will have to make it through one more NFL-less weekend before all the action unfolds, this year’s Kickoff Game will be worth the wait.
On Thursday, September 4, the reigning Super Bowl champion Eagles will bring the curtain up on the new season against the Dallas Cowboys.
The Eagles and Cowboys are two of the NFL’s biggest brands, and fireworks are expected as they go toe-to-toe in Week 1 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and co will be looking to pull of a statement win to prove their Super Bowl victory against the Kansas City Chiefs was no fluke.
They will face a Cowboys team that is looking to bounce back from an injury-hit 2024 season.
Dallas will have a new head coach on the sideline and franchise QB Dak Prescott on the field — but star pass rusher Micah Parsons might not feature amid a long-running contract saga.
Regardless of if Parsons suits up or not, Thursday, September 4 can’t come soon enough.
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