While the NFL schedule is still a couple weeks away from being announced, we did find out who the Atlanta Falcons will be playing in 2025. The division games obviously aren’t difficult to figure out because those are certain for everyone. They’ll play the New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home and away. Nobody needed Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple to solve that case.
It’s very enticing to try to figure out wins and losses, but it’s only early May and there are still many transactions to be made, injuries to occur and the inevitable ‘no one thought they would be this good this year!’ The full NFL schedule is set to be released on May 14th.
But, with 17 games now and figuring out other NFC opponents based on where you finished last year, it can take time to figure out on your own. To make it much easier, here are the opponents the Falcons will play this year.
Home Games (8 total):
-Carolina Panthers
-New Orleans Saints
-Tampa Bay Buccaneers
-Buffalo Bills
-Los Angeles Rams
-Miami Dolphins
-Seattle Seahawks
-Washington Commanders
Away Games (9 total):
-Carolina Panthers
-New Orleans Saints
-Tampa Bay Buccaneers
-Arizona Cardinals
-New England Patriots
-New York Jets
-San Francisco 49ers
-Indianapolis Colts
-Minnesota Vikings
It’s impossible to tell at first glance which games are going to be an issue, especially when the Falcons have so many question marks themselves. How good are the Falcons going to be? If Michael Penix, Jr. is a stud, they could win 12 games as far as anyone knows. If he stumbles out of the gate and ends up benched for Kirk Cousins (assuming Cousins is still around), maybe they go in the toilet. But, maybe Cousins comes to the rescue and they make a deep run. Who knows?
The point is, you just never know this early on who is what. Teams that are supposed to be Super Bowl contenders could limp into town Week 11 with a myriad of injuries and be a doormat.
The Falcons’s draft according to Austin Mock
So, in case this helps with a guess as to how good the Falcons will be this season, The Athletic’s Austin Mock put together an analytics-based grading system of the 2025 NFL Draft. It’s apparently free from outside interference, whatever that means.
“This grading system doesn’t know the prospects, aside from the dollar value given to the slot they were chosen in and their spot on The Athletic’s consensus big board,” according to Saivion Mixson of SB Nation.
“The Falcons had a top-five draft? Really?,” Mock writes. “I don’t necessarily agree with it, but I understand how we got there. So, our formula saw their controversial trade back into the first round for James Pearce Jr. as giving up the equivalent of a late first-rounder. That’s not great, but they managed to overcome it overall.”
“It starts with their selection of Jalon Walker, who plays a premium position and was drafted below consensus. Pearce also plays a premium position, so that helped the Falcons’ cause. Still, I can’t get over how “same-y” they appear to be, with each playing the same position and weighing less than 250 pounds. I have concerns about how those players will fit together into the same scheme outside of passing situations.”
It’s still way too early to know how tough the Falcons’ schedule is this year or how good the Falcons will be. But, the NFL is year-round chatter these days, so why not go for it?
