Ranking possible opponents for Eagles’ 2025 NFL season opener, plus Super Bowl LIX makes television history

Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! 

With the Super Bowl now two days behind us, that means the NFL offseason is officially here. If you’re wondering what this newsletter will look like during the offseason, it will mostly be me trying to figure out who’s going to be playing in the Super Bowl next year based solely on the colors used in the Super Bowl logo. 

The next Super Bowl will be played in the Bay Area and the NFL has already released the logo for the game. Unfortunately, the NFL added multiple colors to the logo to try and make it impossible to figure out who’s going to be playing in the big game, but I tried anyway and you can check it out here. 

We’ve got plenty of non-logo things to cover today, so let’s get to the rundown. 

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. 

1. Ranking the Eagles’ possible opponents for the 2025 opener

Thanks to their Super Bowl win, the Eagles will now get to host the Thursday night NFL opener to kick off the 2025 season. Although we have no idea who the Eagles will be playing, we do know that there are eight options: Cowboys, Giants, Commanders, Bears, Lions, Rams, Broncos and Raiders. 

So who’s the best choice? Tyler Sullivan decided to rank them. 

1. Commanders
2. Lions
3. Cowboys
4. Rams
5. Bears

You can read the full explanation for his rankings here. 

I like Sullivan’s top two picks here. The resurgent Commanders only got THREE prime-time games in 2024 and one of those only happened because they got flexed into it, so it won’t be surprising if the NFL decides to put the spotlight on them. That being said, the NFL has only put two divisional opponents in the opener one time over the past 12 years, so the league might shy away from Washington. 

In two of the past three years, the opener has featured an AFC team vs. NFC team, but I don’t think that will happen this year, because the options aren’t great. If I had to guess now, I’d probably go with Lions at Eagles to kick off the 2025 season. 

The Cowboys are an interesting option, but the NFL almost never throws a first-year coach into the Thursday night opener, so it seems doubtful that the league will ask Brian Schottenheimer to make his coaching debut in Philadelphia in Week 1. 

2. Saints finally hire Kellen Moore: Things to know

Kellen Moore will NOT be returning to Philadelphia. Although Nick Sirianni pleaded with Moore to stay with the Eagles for another season, that won’t be happening. In a move that’s been expected to happen for at least a week, the Saints will be hiring Moore as their new head coach. 

Here’s what you need to know: 

• This is Moore’s first head-coaching job. Moore started his coaching career with the Cowboys in 2018 and was quickly promoted from QB coach to offensive coordinator after just one year. In his four seasons as the OC in Dallas, the Cowboys ranked in the top six in scoring a total of three times. During his lone season in Philadelphia, the Eagles ranked seventh in points per game and eighth in yards per game.  
• Moore now has a big mess to clean up. The Saints are coming off a season where they went 5-12, which was their most losses in a single season since 2005. Moore is replacing Dennis Allen, who got fired after a Week 9 loss to the Panthers. The Saints’ salary cap situation is a nightmare — they have an estimated -$54 million in cap space — so getting this team turned around in one offseason could be a big ask. 
• First big decision will be at QB. Before free agency starts on March 12, Moore is going to have to decide if he wants to keep Derek Carr around. The Saints QB got off to a hot start in 2024, leading New Orleans to a 2-0 record, but he went just 3-5 after that. It will be interesting to see what Moore does, because if they get rid of Carr, they’ll have to find another quarterback and they don’t exactly have the salary cap space to do that right now (They could also start Spencer Rattler, but he went 0-6 in 2024 and Moore might not be interesting in doing that). 
• Moore will be the youngest coach in the NFL. At just 35, Moore will now be taking over the title of the youngest coach in the NFL. The Saints new head coach turns 36 in July. The oldest coach in the NFL (Pete Carroll) is more than twice as old as Moore. 

You can check out our full story on Moore here. 

3. Super Bowl LIX makes TV history

If you were tuned into to Super Bowl LIX on Sunday night, then you were part of television history. The Eagles’ 40-22 blowout win over the Chiefs set an all-time record for television viewership. 

Here’s what you need to know: 

• Most-watched telecast ever. The game averaged 126 million viewers, which makes it the most-watched telecast EVER. The viewership number covers all platforms that showed the Super Bowl, including Fox, Fox Deportes, Tubi, Telemundo and NFL digital properties. 
• Peak audience came early. The game peaked with 135.7 million viewers in the second quarter. If this game had been close, it would likely have peaked in the second half at some point, but it seems that several million casual NFL fans decided to give up after Philadelphia took a 24-0 halftime lead.  
• The blowout didn’t hurt ratings. The last time there was a blowout came in Super Bowl LV when “only” 91.6 million people watched the Buccaneers’ 31-9 win over the Chiefs. The fact that Fox was able to set a ratings record despite the blowout tells you how much everyone loves watching the NFL. 

It didn’t hurt that the game also had plenty of star power with Taylor Swift, Bradley Cooper, Anne Hathaway, Paul Rudd, Kevin Costner and Adam Sandler in attendance, plus, Donald Trump became the first sitting president to ever attend a Super Bowl. 

You can read more about the ratings here. 

4. Eagles players get hefty paycheck for Super Bowl win 

When you win the Super Bowl, not only do you get a ring and a trophy, but you also get a nice paycheck for the game. Let’s check out who’s going to cash-in the most for the win. 

• Winning team paycheck: $171,000. Every player on the winning team gets paid the same amount for the game, so a rookie on the bench gets the same $171,000 paycheck as Jalen Hurts. For some guys, this will be a huge raise over their regular-season paycheck. For instance, as a rookie, Cooper DeJean made just $44,167 per game in base salary during the regular season, so he saw his game pay nearly quadrupled for the Super Bowl. 
• Losing team paycheck: $96,000. Even if you lose the Super Bowl, you still get to go home with a pretty nice parting gift in the form of a game check that will pay you nearly $100,000. For someone like Joe Thuney, who made $833,333 in base salary each week during the season, this is a huge pay cut. But for rookies or anyone making the league minimum, this would be a nice raise for them. 
• Saquon Barkley cashes in: Some players, like Saquon Barkley, can get even more money from a Super Bowl win if they have a bonus written into their contract. The Eagles running back earned $250,000 in bonus money for the NFC title win and then another $250,000 for the Super Bowl win. On top of that, Barkley also gets $500,000 added to both his 2025 and 2026 salaries, so he’ll be making a cool $1.5 million on top of the $171,000 pay check. 
• Jalen Hurts will also be getting some extra money: The Eagles quarterback will be getting $2 million on TOP of his Super Bowl paycheck, but he won’t be getting it all right away. With the win, that triggers a bonus that will increase his salary $500,000 from 2025 thru 2028, so he won’t see all the money for another three years, but it’s definitely coming his way. 

You can read more about Super Bowl pay here. 

5. Super Bowl LX odds: Eagles and Chiefs on top

In news that likely won’t surprise anyone, the two teams that just played in the Super Bowl have opened as the top-two favorites to win Super Bowl LX. And, yes, this means that you can already bet on the winner of next year’s Super Bowl, and that’s because the oddsmakers never sleep. 

Let’s check out the Super Bowl odds for the 2025 season (For a full list, be sure to click here)

1. Eagles +625 (Bet $100 to win $625)
2. Chiefs +650
T-3. Bills +675
T-3. Ravens +675
5. Lions +1100
6. 49ers +1400
7. Commanders +1700
T-8. Packers +2000
T-8. Bengals +2000
10. Rams +2200

Worst odds: Titans and Giants +20000 (Bet $100 to win $20,000)
Breech’s best bet: Eagles
Best Value, Part I: Commanders (+1700)
Best Value, Part II: Rams (+2200)

If I had to make a Super Bowl bet right now, I’d probably put my money on the Eagles. Yes, that’s boring, but this team was absolutely dominant. They only lost three games during the regular season and two of those games came on last-second touchdown passes (Kirk Cousins threw a TD pass with 34 seconds left to propel the Falcons to a 22-21 win over the Eagles in Week 2. Jayden Daniels threw a TD pass with six seconds left to beat the Eagles 36-33 in Week 16). Basically, the Eagles came 40 seconds away from going 16-1. 

The Commanders are good, but we saw what Philly did to them in the NFC title game, so they’re going to need to add a few players to get over the hump. As for the Rams, Sean McVay’s team came 13 yards away from beating the Eagles in the divisional round. The Rams are young and just gained one more year of experience and they should be much better in 2025 than they were in 2024, which is saying a lot, because they were good in 2024. 

I also like the Bengals, but I don’t trust them right now. 

6. Extra points: Eagles set date for Super Bowl parade

It’s been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. 

• Eagles’ Super Bowl parade happening Friday.  It’s going to be a crazy Valentine’s Day in Philadelphia and that’s because that’s the day the Eagles will be holding their Super Bowl parade. The team is waiting until Friday because it’s supposed to snow/rain in Philly over the next three days and Friday was the first day where the weather was going to cooperate. You can read more about the parade here. 
• Halftime protester banned from all future NFL events. The protester who unfurled the Palestinian flag during the halftime show at Super Bowl LIX won’t face any charges for his actions, New Orleans police said Monday. However, the NFL has hit him with a lifetime ban from all future games and events. You can read more about the situation here. 
• Cowboys set to hire Ken Dorsey. Former Browns and Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey is set to join Brian Schottenheimer’s coaching staff in Dallas. It appears that Dorsey is being hired to serve as the team’s passing-game coordinator. You can read more about this move here.  
• Super Bowl LI ring gets sold at auction. This was the game where the Patriots pulled off the greatest win in Super Bowl history, but Martellus Bennett has decided that he’s not going to keep his ring. The former NFL tight end sold it at auction for $88,125 last week.