Ten teams with easiest NFL strength of schedule, plus first game of 2025 season will be Cowboys at Eagles

Welcome to the Monday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! 

After three months of waiting, my favorite week of the NFL offseason is finally here: The week of the schedule release. Sure, some people like free agency, and yes, some people enjoy the draft, and I love both of those things, but not as much as the schedule release. I WANT TO KNOW WHEN THE GAMES ARE BEING PLAYED. 

The only offseason tent pole event I care about is the release of the schedule, and that will be coming on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET, so be sure to clear your calendar. The NFL will be leaking out games all week, and that started today with the announcement of who will be playing in the 2025 opener. We’ll be covering that in today’s newsletter, plus we’ll be looking at some of the other top games that will be on the schedule this year. Oh, and we’ll be touching on Derek Carr’s retirement because that happened. 

As always, here’s your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. Let’s get to the rundown. 

1. Derek Carr retires: Saints QB sends shockwaves through NFL with weekend announcement

In what was easily the most shocking news of the NFL weekend, Derek Carr announced his retirement on Saturday after 11 NFL seasons. The Saints quarterback had been dealing with a shoulder injury that was likely going to cause him to miss a substantial portion of the 2025 season, but instead trying to get the injury fixed, Carr decided to hang up his cleats for good. 

Here’s what you need to know: 

• Why now? Seeing a player of Carr’s caliber retire in May is something that almost never happens in the NFL, but this was a very unique circumstance. Carr injured his wrist back in December, so he wasn’t able to fully throw again for several months. At some point in late March, he went through a throwing session and experienced serious pain his right shoulder. Carr spoke to the team’s medical staff and that’s when he found out that he had “sustained a labral tear and also had significant degenerative changes to his rotator cuff.” Carr could have undergone surgery, but there was no guarantee he was going to get back to full strength. Due to the uncertainty, he decided to retire. 
• Financial ramifications for Carr. The fact that Carr is retiring is actually going to work out well for all involved. At least financially. Carr was scheduled to get paid $30 million in guaranteed money for 2025, but he’ll be giving that up. In exchange, he’ll get to keep a roster bonus of $10 million that he earned in March. The Saints also won’t ask him to pay back any portion of his $28.5 million signing bonus. Also, the retirement won’t be processed until after June 1, so the Saints will be able to spread the cap hit out over two years with $14.462 million coming in 2025 and $35.67 million in 2026, according to Spotrac. 
• What’s next for the Saints? The Saints will now be holding a QB competition between Spencer Rattler, Jake Haener and rookie Tyler Shough. New Saints coach Kellen Moore said the team is going to have a three-way competition to see who gets the job. “We’re gonna let all three of these guys roll,” Moore said. “They’ve all earned these opportunities.” If the Saints aren’t happy with those three guys, they have a few other options they could look to in free agency and we covered those here. 

Carr will now finish his career with 41,245 yards passing, 257 touchdown passes and 112 interceptions. He also has the most pass attempts (5,785) in NFL history without winning a playoff game. 

We’ve got the full story on Carr’s retirement here. 

2. NFL opener is set: Cowboys will face Eagles to kick off 2025 season

The NFL won’t be releasing the full 2025 schedule until Wednesday night, but over the next 48 hours, the league will be giving us an early look at 13 different games on the schedule. The first announcement came Monday morning when the NFL revealed the first game of the 2025 season: Cowboys at Eagles. 

The defending Super Bowl champion annually gets to host the first game of the year, which is why the season is kicking of in Philadelphia. 

Here are all the details you need to know: 

• 2025 NFL season will start with Cowboys at Eagles. The Eagles get to unveil their Super Bowl banner in front of a team that hasn’t won a Super Bowl in 30 years. Very fitting. That being said, this is an interesting option by the NFL. The defending Super Bowl champ hasn’t hosted a divisional opponent in the opening game in 13 years, not to mention, the league usually shies away from putting a first-year head coach in this spot. The Cowboys also have a QB in Dak Prescott who’s coming off a serious injury (hamstring). If I had to pick a winner for this game right now, I’d probably take the Eagles by double digits, so I was NOT surprised to learn that the Eagles have opened as a seven-point favorite. 
• NFL’s other options. The NFL had seven options for the Eagles’ opener, and if you look at those options — Giants, Commanders, Lions, Bears, Rams, Broncos, Raiders — I think there are at least three games that would have been better. If they had gone with the Commanders, it would have been a rematch of the NFC title game. The Lions in Week 1 would have given us a matchup of the two teams that were the best in the NFC during the regular season last year. The Rams also would have made sense in the opener as they came the closest to beating the Eagles in the postseason. 

The NFL will be revealing some other games on the schedule before we get to Wednesday night. Here’s a look at when those announcements will be coming: 

• May 12: Fox, Amazon will each announce one game
• May 13: ESPN will reveal one game on its schedule
• May 13: All seven international games will be unveiled on “Good Morning Football”
• May 14: CBS will unveil one game on “CBS Mornings” while Netflix will also be announcing one game

We’ll be tracking announcements and schedule leaks all week and you can check that out here. 

3. 2025 NFL strength of schedule breakdown: Looking at the 10 easiest schedules

After taking a look at the 10 most difficult schedules on Friday, we’re going to flip things around today and take a look at the 10 easiest schedules for 2025. Of course, when I say easy, I don’t actually mean easy, because nothing is easy in the NFL, but these are the teams that have the easiest strength of schedule based on their opponents’ combined winning percentage from last season. 

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the 10 least difficult schedules in 2025 based on strength of schedule:

TOP 10 EASIEST SCHEDULES: 
1. 49ers: 120-169 (.415)
2. Saints: 121-168 (.419)
3. Patriots: 124-165 (.429)
4. Titans: 130-159 (.450)
T-5. Panthers: 132-157 (.457)
T-5. Cardinals: 132-157 (.457)
7. Jets: 133-156 (.460)
8. Colts: 134-155 (.464)
T-9. Jaguars: 135-154 (.467)
T-9. Bills: 135-154 (.467)

One team you might want to take note of here is the New England Patriots: The team with the easiest schedule in the AFC has finished with a winning record in SEVEN straight seasons and the Patriots have the easiest schedule of any AFC team this year. 

To check out the strength of schedule ranking for all 32 teams, be sure to click here. 

4. 2025 NFL schedule: Ranking the best games coming at us this season

Although the full schedule won’t be coming out until Wednesday, we can take an early look at what some of the biggest games will be this year, and that’s because we already know the home and away opponents for all 32 teams (The only thing we get during the schedule release on Wednesday is the time and date of each game). 

With that in mind, Jeff Kerr decided to rank the 10 best games on the schedule for 2025. Let’s take a look at his top five: 

1. Eagles at Chiefs. “The Eagles and Chiefs have met twice in the Super Bowl over the past three seasons. …. Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes is a matchup within itself, as the Eagles and Chiefs have a history between their front office and head coach. This is the can’t-miss regular-season showdown in 2025.”

2. Chiefs at Bills. “This is the best rivalry in the NFL right now and it isn’t close. Josh Allen is the only quarterback who has beaten Patrick Mahomes four times in the regular season, sporting a 4-1 record against him (But 0-3 in the playoffs).”

3. Ravens at Bills. “One of the most exciting games in the playoffs last season was the divisional round showdown between Baltimore and Buffalo, a game that was decided with Mark Andrews‘ dropped two-point conversion in a 27-25 Bills victory. This will be the first meeting since that epic matchup.”

4. Ravens at Chiefs. “Remember the showdown in the NFL Kickoff Game in Kansas City last season? Well, the Ravens and Chiefs haven’t met since that Week 1 thriller (where the NFL overturned Baltimore’s game-tying touchdown on the final play of regulation). Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes are always bound for epic showdowns, especially in the regular season.”

5. Lions at Eagles. “Both teams are two of the best in the NFC, and the Lions had to watch the Eagles hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy last season (without ever getting to play them).”

We’ll find out the date and kickoff time for each oft these games on Wednesday night (Actually, we could even find out before that if any of these end up getting announced early). 

If you want to check out Kerr’s full top 10 list, you can do that here. 

5. NFL offseason grades: AFC South is the only division where no one got an ‘A’

After handing out grades for more than a week, we’re finally at the end. We’ve been going around the NFL and grading every team based on how they’ve done this offseason and we’re closing things out today with the AFC South. 

Let’s check out the grades: 

• Jaguars: B. “James Gladstone was bold in his first offseason at the helm in Jacksonville. In free agency, he bolstered the secondary with Jourdan Lewis and Eric Murray and gave Trevor Lawrence added protection with Patrick Mekari. … While free agency was solid, it was the NFL Draft where they made their biggest splash, leaping up to the No. 2 overall pick to select Travis Hunter, who was the most talented player in the class.”
• Texans: B-. “Houston had itself a puzzling offseason. Its offensive line struggled throughout the campaign, but its answer to that was trading away left tackle Laremy Tunsil, its best lineman, to the Commanders. The Texans did add Cam Robinson in free agency and Aireontae Ersery in the draft to help improve the unit and cushion the blow of losing Tunsil, but it’s hard to say they’ve improved along the line.”
• Titans: C+. “This offseason is all about Cam Ward. If he’s who the Titans hope he is, they’re in a good spot. If not, they remain in the basement.”
• Colts: C+. “While the Colts did a good job fixing the secondary, I have some serious questions about the offensive line. Despite losing Ryan Kelly and Will Fries in free agency, they didn’t take a lineman until the fourth round.”

If you want the full explanation for each team’s grade, you can check out Tyler Sullivan’s story here.  

6. Extra points: Chiefs likely heading to Brazil

This is always a busy time in the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything that’s happening, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. 

• Chiefs expected to face Chargers in Brazil. The Chiefs were viewed as the front-runner to face the Chargers in Brazil and now, it looks like that’s going to happen. According to Front Office Sports, the Chiefs are likely going to be headed to Brazil for a game that is expected to be streamed on YouTube. The official announcement will be coming on Tuesday when the NFL unveils all seven international games. 
• Former Pro Bowler signs with Raiders after sitting out 2024 season. The Raiders made an interesting signing over the weekend by adding Jaylon Smith. The former second-round pick started his career with the Cowboys in 2017 and eventually made it to the Pro Bowl in 2019. However, the linebacker only played in one game in 2023 and was out of the NFL entirely in 2024. Smith was invited to tryout at the Raiders’ rookie minicamp and the team was impressed enough that it signed him. The 29-year-old will now be looking to make the 53-man roster. 
• Peacock lands exclusive game on NFL schedule. For the fourth straight year, Peacock will be getting an exclusive NFL game. This year, that game will come on Saturday, Dec. 27, which falls in Week 17. The two teams playing in this game likely won’t be revealed until the schedule comes out on Wednesday. 
• Tua Tagovailoa’s brother gets dropped by CFL team. After going undrafted in 2024, Taulia Tagovailoa ended up signing with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL. However, his time there is now over after the Tiger-Cats released him over the weekend just before the start of training camp. Taulia was a three-year starter at Maryland, but he hasn’t been able to latch on with an NFL team. 
• Packers sign Canadian quarterback. Sticking with the Canadian theme, Green Bay has made an interesting signing by adding QB Taylor Elgersma out of Canada. The twist here is that he didn’t play in the CFL. Elgersma played college football at Wilfrid Laurier in Canada, where he won the Hec Crighton Trophy, which is essentially Canada’s version of the Heisman.