A challenging first six weeks, including another overseas game, will test Washington in the season’s first half.
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The Washington Commanders had hoped that a healthy Jayden Daniels and a younger, faster team rebuilt through free agency and the draft would quickly propel them back into Super Bowl contention. But this season’s schedule, released Thursday night, could make it difficult to get off to a good start.
The Commanders open their season Sept. 13 at NFC East rival Philadelphia, the beginning of a challenging six-week stretch that includes a second week game at Dallas; a Week 3 home game against the Super Bowl champions Seattle Seahawks; a Week 4 game in London; and a home game with another division rival, the New York Giants. It culminates with a Week 6 Monday Night Football game at San Francisco.
The most challenging part of the schedule, however, might come at the start of November, when Washington will play three games in 12 days: home against the Eagles on Sunday night Nov. 1; home the next Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams; and a Thursday night game at the Giants.
The Commanders will play their second Monday night game of the season on Nov. 23 when they face the Cincinnati Bengals in what should be a matchup of Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks Daniels (2023) and the Bengals’ Joe Burrow (2019).
For the second straight year, Washington will play an international game, facing the Indianapolis Colts on Oct. 4 in London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Last year, the Commanders didn’t make the overseas trip until late in November and were given a bye week to rest up from the travel. This time, they don’t get a break, having to face the Giants the following Sunday.
Their bye isn’t until Week 7 in late October.
Last season’s third-place finish gives Washington a slightly easier schedule. But since the NFC East plays the NFC West (which had three playoff teams last season), much of that advantage will be eliminated. Seven of the Commanders’ games this year will be against 2025 playoff teams.
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Based on last year’s records, the Commanders have the league’s 16th hardest schedule, with their opponents having finished with a combined .502 winning percentage in 2025. That number, though, doesn’t take into consideration that many of those opponents will have either improved or gotten worse since the end of last season. It also doesn’t account for Washington losing its advantage of nine home games in 2026 by moving the game with the Colts to London.
The Commanders will have to play only three times outside of the Eastern or Central time zones, saving them from having to make too many long trips that wear teams down.
Washington’s schedule gets easier in the season’s last seven weeks, with only two games against playoff teams from last year. But it does include back-to-back road games at Arizona and Tennessee in Weeks 12 and 13. The Commanders also have a December home game with the Houston Texans, who went 12-5 last year, and on the first weekend in January at Jacksonville, which won the AFC South with a 13-4 record last season.
For the third straight year, the Commanders won’t play at Dallas on Thanksgiving Day. They had been the Cowboys’ Thanksgiving opponent at least once every three seasons dating back to 2015. But they will finish the season against Dallas on the weekend of Jan. 10.
The NFL did not assign times or exact dates for the last three games, waiting to see how those teams and the Commanders are playing at the time to determine whether any of the games will be moved to prime time.
Washington also will play a home preseason game against Miami, followed by road games at Detroit and Baltimore. Times and dates for the preseason games have not been announced.
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