NFL schedule 2025: Who has the most standalone games? Cowboys, Chiefs and Commanders lead the way

The Philadelphia Eagles are the defending Super Bowl champions and have a loaded schedule of opponents. One would think Philadelphia would be in the conversation for the most standalone games on the 2025 schedule.

Turns out, the Eagles don’t have the most standalone games in their division. Philadelphia isn’t even in the top two in the NFC East in terms of standalone games. 

The Washington Commanders and Dallas Cowboys lead the way in standalone games in 2025 with eight, as the NFC East rivals are tied with the Kansas City Chiefs for the most standalone games in the league. The Chiefs and Cowboys are typical ratings draws, so it wasn’t surprising to see these teams at the top of the league for standalone games. The Eagles, by the way, have seven standalone games.

The Commanders are the team the league is banking on having a good season (think the New York Jets over the past two years). Hard to fault the NFL for thinking this way, given the Commanders finished 12-5 in Jayden Daniels‘ rookie season and reached the NFC Championship Game. Washington is expected to be one of the NFC teams to compete for a Super Bowl this season, as Daniels should draw eyeballs to the television in every game he plays. 

So what qualifies as a standalone game in NFL? These are the qualifications:

• Prime-time games on Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday nights
• International games
• Thanksgiving and Christmas games
• Late-season Saturday games

The Commanders are scheduled for eight of these standalone games in 2025, and here they are:

Here is how many standalone games each team has in the 2025 season: