Next 5 Index: Which NFL Team Has the Hardest Schedule Ahead Beginning With Week 7? As the league heads into the second third of the 2025 schedule, we break down which teams have the toughest path to b

As we head into the middle third of the 2025 NFL schedule, this is the time when the contenders and pretenders truly reveal themselves.

And part of that reveal is taking a look at how the teams survived tough stretches of opponents and what’s ahead.

That’s what we’re trying to achieve with the EssentiallySports Next 5 Index . We take a weekly look at what the road ahead looks like for all 32 teams, specifically focusing on each team’s next five games.

It’s always struck me how the discussion of toughest schedules is so often based on what we thought going into the season. Yes, we at times will give a measure of a team’s strength of schedule, but we at ES wanted to create a more dynamic measurement. That’s the goal with the Next 5 Index.

Take the Los Angeles Rams , for example. When