2025 NFL schedule predictions for EVERY TEAM in the NFC East

Kyle Long and Leger Douzable join CBS Sports HQ to break down every team’s schedule in the NFC East.

(0:00) Philadelphia Eagles
(3:55) Washington Commanders
(7:36) Dallas Cowboys
(11:01) New York Giants
(13:47) Sportsline predictions

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#nfl #ealges #commanders #cowboys #giants

It’s no longer the NFC least can’t can’t say that we had the Eagles win the Super Bowl. They were in the NFC Championship game against the commanders, and the NFC East has just a meat grinder this year. The hardest strength of schedule belonging to the Giants. And all four teams are in the top eight toughest schedules for next season. When you go on last season’s winning percentage, Chris Hassel, Amanda Guerra, Kyle Long and Douzable will have McKenzie Brooks joining us with the Sportsline angle on the NFC East schedule in just a second. Let’s start with the Eagles. Who you saw the list. They don’t have the toughest schedule in terms of winning percentage, but first team in NFL history that plays ten playoff teams from the year before I believe seven on the road. But this is a team that’s built to play the upper echelons of the NFL. Now the biggest question obviously they lose their offensive coordinator. He goes to the Saints to become the head coach. Kevin Petula now is the offensive coordinator. And we saw kind of a lull two years ago when they lost both coordinators. They really struggled at 23 season, but they still played well enough to get into the playoffs. Yes, people keep talking about all the defensive players they lost. But the one thing Howie Roseman does a really good job of is getting first and second round picks a redshirt year, guys are able to step into their own in their second year. We saw that when Nakobe Dean, we saw that with Jordan Davis. A guy like Jalen Hunt was real big in the Super Bowl, didn’t play the majority of his rookie year, but he stepped up big when they needed him to. So you’ll see a lot of these young players step up and become starters because you see right there how many players they lost Josh sweat, Brandon Graham, Milton Williams. But they have guys that have had redshirt years that have played in spot start duty to come in and fill the void. The offense only loses one player, Kyle Mekhi Becton, at guard, and we know that they have the best offensive line coach in the league, so they’ll be fine there. So even though to this point, ten teams from last year that made the playoffs, four on the Eagles schedule, they’ll be fine because they’re built for this. Yeah, they’re built for it. And they’re dominant at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. And really, that’s the recipe that ends up making people like Patrick Mahomes look human, get after him as a as a quarterback and then obviously protect your own. And for Jalen Hurts in particular, I think he will take the biggest leap in this coming season because he got to the top of the mountain. He was the last one standing and I’ve never been there, but I would imagine it breeds a certain kind of confidence. And Jalen Hurts, we’re going to have that. We’re going to see that the entirety of the season from him. I can’t wait to watch big number one get after it all year. They don’t have back to back home games at all, but you guys still have them winning the most games in this division. What’s your record? You have them going 12 and five just because championship pedigree. They’ve been put to the test we saw last year. Going into the bye they were two and two. Kyle a lot of people were asking to fire their head coach who just went to the Super Bowl two years prior to that. I was yelling at him. That was insane to me. Like, how can you ask fire Nick Sirianni when he just took you to the Super Bowl two years ago? So this is a team that has a lot of different personalities. And you know this, Kyle, you’ve been in locker rooms. It’s tough for a head coach to get all those personalities on one page for a common goal. And they were able to do that and get to a Super Bowl. So when I say this team is well versed and well tested, they’ll be ready for the schedule. Yeah. And I’m glad you talked about Nick Sirianni, because there’s only a handful of coaches that have had the success that Nick Sirianni has had. You know, you got to press pause to take a look at those numbers and the facts that are in front of us. But Nick Sirianni is great. And I think the thing that guys respect the most about Nick Sirianni, he is himself. He is not fake. There’s not an ounce of fake in that dude. And yeah, it pisses some people off. Like myself. I get ticked off by Nick Sirianni sometimes, but he goes out there and he wins. His team plays hard for him, and that’s why I got them going. Not 12 and five, 13 and four, 13. That’s crazy. I mean, I know we got holes on that defense, but like you said Howie Roseman has got them filled in. He’s got people ready. So when they face the commanders twice we’re going to talk about the commanders. Are any of those a W for the commanders. We’ll have to see okay. All right. So the commanders out of the NFC East do have the easiest schedule out of these four teams. If you consider that they are ranked eighth overall. And I will say the fans, at least they’re excited. I was reading an article that said no more 1 p.m. Games on Thursday Night Football, Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football. But they got to face teams like the Eagles twice. Yeah I mean absolutely. And they have the benefit of having a young superstar in Jayden Daniels. And the one thing that the commanders are up against this year are expectations. And when you have gone that far with a rookie quarterback with a team that was punching up Dan Quinn, instilling a new culture with guys that were getting to know as the season goes along on the defensive side of the ball, people say, well, we have to get better than that next year, right? This is the next iteration. I would say pump the brakes and understand that last year was a magic ride. And if you’re anywhere near that as a commander fan this year, you should be thrilled, because the next decade plus with Jayden Daniels is going to be awesome. As long as they got J.D. Five, they have a fighting chance. You saw nobody was more clutch in in game situations than Jayden Daniels and you talked about it. Kyle, like what he did was out of this world as a rookie quarterback. I liken it to the Houston Texans the year before and the Packers right. High expectations. What are you going to do now that everybody knows you’re coming? That is going to be the question mark for the commanders as they try to dethrone the Philadelphia Eagles. You see how many players they’ve added Deebo Samuel Trey Laremy Tunsil via Trey. They added Javon Kinlaw Dedric wise. So they’ve gotten significantly better. And I love what they really did in the draft. Getting Josh Connolly who’s going to be able to start either at right tackle at guard, and Trey Amos, who went in the second round but was really a first round corner. He’s going to allow them to slide. Mikey Sanders back at slot position which is best position. So I think this is a team that’s going to push the Eagles. I don’t have them dethroning them this year though. 11 and six for Jay and for Kyle. You mentioned the Texans and C.J. Stroud. And I got to think that that’s that’s the worry. Like how do we avoid that year to look Texans were still good. That’s what I’m going next okay. But when you expect to be even better how do they avoid doing that? I think you have to stay the course and keep your head down and work, right. C.J. Stroud even came out and admitted this. He felt like he was maybe doing a little bit too much in the off season. We haven’t really seen Jayden Daniels out there in the news. I believe he did a little bit of f one, but I mean, you’re an NFL player, you got to blow some steam off. You got to have some fun. But just the look in this kid’s eye and you see it right there when you talk about all time rookie ranks first in wins. First in total touchdowns, first in total yards. When you talk about the regular season and postseason, he’s just built different I hear you has we were saying the same thing about CJ Stroud. I think the biggest issue with the Texans was they struggled with the offensive line. It doesn’t matter if you’re a young guy or a veteran guy, if you don’t have help in the trenches protecting you, you’re going to get skittish. That’s why I love that they took Josh Connolly in the first round to really solidify that offensive line. Go get Laremy Tunsil that way he knows his backside is protected. Took it from C.J. Stroud. Literally. Literally. So you see like that and you make Jayden Daniels stronger. Josh Connolly, a guy who can step in multiple positions, tough player, played a lot of football. Obviously Laremy Tunsil is going to be protecting the blind side, and I often talk about the right side of the offensive line being the one that the quarterback is more conscious of. Duh. A right handed quarterback is looking at the right guard and right tackle, but if the left tackle is getting beat, that’s where turnovers happen. That’s where sacks happen. That’s when quarterbacks can get hurt. And for a guy like Jayden Daniels, you need him on the field. Laremy Tunsil is great. That’s why the Texans struggled. They weren’t they weren’t on the same page with coordinator and quarterback and protection plan. They have that as a priority in Washington. Jayden Daniels is going to be dangerous. We got to talk about the Dallas Cowboys and this was going to be Chris’s topic. And I actually asked to take it from him. She took it from me because I was walking into work and I got hot. I saw another network talking about Can the Cowboys. You were watching another network I saw it on. We have lots of straight to I know you’re an Eagles fan, but you’re from Texas. Are you a Dallas fan too or. No, I am very I get very annoyed with the team, and I get very annoyed with Jerry Jones because I feel like Kyle’s going to back me up because not really much has changed with this team. They have a hard schedule. Yes. We give them all the holidays, they get Christmas, they get Thanksgiving, America’s Team, they get all the prime time games. I get. It’s America’s Team. But Kyle, by the time we get to that point, are we even going to be excited about watching this team? Well, I’m glad for Dallas Cowboys fans sake that they put them in prime time week one, because everybody and their mom is going to be watching the Eagles and the Cowboys, but they don’t want to waste the potential of having that Cowboys fan base be out to sea in week ten when they’re, you know, two and whatever, two and eight. So yeah. So here’s the thing. You guys are very opposite sides of the fandom of the Cowboys. While it’s hot, get them early and often in prime time. I know you and I have different records. This team I think the Dallas Cowboys have a very young base in the offensive line. The core of that offensive line is young. I love what they did in the draft there at the guard position, but it’s going to take another year for that group to gel. It’s going to take another year for Coach Schottenheimer to be able to command the respect. And to be quite honest, you’re bringing George Pickens into the fold. What’s going to happen with George Pickens? It wasn’t tremendous at all times in Pittsburgh. Who’s to say that a big time city like Dallas lends itself to having George Pickens show up on time with his teammates every day? Yeah, I do have this is the third team in the NFC East. And to Chris’s point, you can’t say the NFC least anymore. This is one of the most competitive divisions in football. I actually got them going nine and eight. I think they’re going to be a lot better than people expected them to be. Yes, they have a gantlet of a schedule. But let’s not forget, just two years ago, Dakota Pressley I mean Prescott Dak Prescott was number two in the MVP race. Like people forget that because he got hurt last year. Just two years ago he was number two in the MVP race. And a lot of people thought he should have won it over Lamar Jackson. So he’s motivated. I’ve seen film of him. He looks a lot slender. Looks like he’s more in shape. George Pickens contract year. You know how it is when you go somewhere on your contract. You’re you’re highly motivated. You want to get paid. A lot of people view him as a high end to maybe even a around 15 to 17 top receiver in the NFL. CeeDee lamb has proven he’s a top five receiver in the NFL. Now, Jerry Jones does have some business to do with Micah Parsons. That needs to be done because he’s the best player on that team, and you don’t want him going into the season without a contract being locked in. But I believe the Cowboys will be better. The biggest question will be that young offensive line, can they gel? Tyler Booker is going to bring some nastiness to that offensive line. You got Tyler Guyton there as well. You got T Smith like they have the pieces. They just have to develop in jail and win through the trenches because I thought they had a home run draft. I believe this team is going to be a lot better than people think, a lot better than Kyle thinks, who has him at five and 12? Wow. I think they have the that was like DK. I think they have the young I knew someone, they have young talent on the roster that tells me they could be a team that could be 12 and five. In the next year, though. Five and 12 will be a tough on Cowboys fans. I’d love to see him in my mentions. I look forward to. They’ll be there in 12, five and 12. You have the Giants Kyle having a significantly better season schedule in the NFL with the hardest schedule. Yeah. How’s that? They got a ton of quarterbacks up there in New York. Yeah, they got four quarterbacks. If you got three quarterbacks you got none. One of the most dominant defensive fronts in football. They will. And they made great moves on the back end this offseason, bringing in some real big time playmakers. And they’ve got absolute monsters on the interior of that defensive line. I can’t wait to watch the Eagles and the Giants play because that’s football hog heaven right there. Outside of that, I will say that I do think that the Giants will have a better season than the Cowboys. I trust in that staff more than I know about the Cowboys current staff. Who the hell is going to play quarterback? That’s that’s where I’m like, Jackson, bro. You think it’s going to be him? Jaxson Dart I’ve loved Jaxson Dart since the first time I saw him swing a golf club. I said, that’s a guy that’s got Rex. That’s a guy with clubhead speed. He runs the football. He wants to hit people like Josh Allen in space. The coaches got to say whoa rather than sick them. That’s what you want with a rookie. I love that about Jaxson Dart. And I think he’s cut out for that big city. I talked to their GM at the league owners meeting and the plan, not the league owners meeting. Literally two days after the draft. And he said the plan is not to play Jaxson Dart right away. Now, they had the same plan when he was in Buffalo with Josh Allen. Then Josh Allen comes in the game where they’re getting blown out, plays well and the rest is history. So I don’t believe Jaxson Dart will start this season. I hear what you’re saying. They do have one of the best defensive lines in football, but they had that last year as well and it didn’t matter because the offense was abysmal. I have issues with their offensive line, like, is anybody going to stay healthy first and foremost? Can they gel? Can they protect whoever’s playing quarterback, whether it’s Russell Wilson, whether it’s Jameis Winston, whether it’s Jaxson Dart, whether it’s Tommy Cutlets. We don’t know who’s going to start at quarterback. But there’s real issues in that offensive line. Again they do have one of the best defensive lines they can get after you Dexter Lawrence is probably the best tackle in football. But until you can have an offense that can take some pressure off the defense, it’s going to be a long day for New York. I have them going four and 13 with a seven game losing streak from week six. Those first 12 weeks are a gantlet. Yep. The first 12 toughest schedule, which may lead to a Jaxson Dart led team take you to the promised land. You’re right, you’re right. He’s got a lot of growing pains. There’s a lot of stuff about Jaxson Dart that I that I usually would be like, yeah, I don’t like that about a quarterback, but it’s 2025. Get that young guy in there. I love his swagger. Tell him to run the football, get some first downs. Hanging out with Pete Prisco a lot I do. Does he like him like I do I don’t know, he was mad. He was mad. He traded in the first round to get him. Okay, well I got a call. He wants to see Pete Prisco. Nowhere to be found. But we do have Mackenzie Brooks standing by from Sports Line to dive into the numbers a little bit more. Kenz. Yeah, I’m pretty in line with a lot of you. I’ve been biting my tongue though, on some few things over here while I waited for you guys to finish up. But to no surprise, we do like the Eagles the best in this division. We have them around 11 wins here, just like oddsmakers do. Our win totals are pretty in line with oddsmakers across the board. Why we have so much value on the Eagles to win the division at 68% has a lot less to do with them and a lot to do with the commanders. You guys were talking about it, right? We saw that with C.J. Stroud and Houston. It was never C.J. Stroud getting worse. After his rookie year, the schedule got harder. He had a great, easy schedule. His rookie year. We saw the same thing with Washington. Their average opponent was a seven win team. Now their average opponent is a playoff team closer to a ten win team. So yes, you’re going to have a 70% pass completion when you’re playing defenses that allow 70%, right. So the situation is this is going to be a tough schedule. I think the world of Jayden Daniels, I have for years. But again, when your schedule gets tougher, it’s just harder to win. So that’s why we have them at that 24%. As far as the Giants down here at around five wins. Look you know you get Abdul Carter. You obviously help your defense. But the defense like you guys mentioned was never really the problem. So you’re filling a shallow hole here with a lot of other holes going on. As far as the Cowboys. We have them around eight wins. I’d call that their flaw right now because you could see George Pickens, you know, really start to play at a higher ceiling potentially. And you also potentially could have a better running back room by the time the season starts if you see some trades or other things going on. So I call this the Cowboys floor with some potential of thunder and lightning running back room. I’m not here to technically say that, but it’s definitely going to be the Eagles for us. Oddsmakers have them around -145 to win the division. That implies around a 59% chance we give them a 68% chance. So technically right now that -145 is pretty good value. All right. Good value on the Eagles. And if you’re Kyle Long it’s great value on the Cowboys under. Come on. He has winning just five games this season. Sports line numbers don’t change your mind at all. Oil money okay. Kyle thanks. As we look at the NFC East schedules we’re going to go division by division for the next few days here on HQ. Many more picks from our Sportsline experts on the Early Edge podcast. Scan that QR code. It’ll take you there. You can listen to it wherever you fin