By Frank Pingue
(Reuters) -The 2025 NFL season starts this week with the Philadelphia Eagles raising their Super Bowl banner, Aaron Rodgers embarking on a new chapter with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the first of a record seven games scheduled outside the U.S.
Philadelphia, who denied the Kansas City Chiefs a Super Bowl three-peat in February with a 40-22 rout, kick off the regular season on Thursday at home to a Dallas Cowboys team seeking their first Vince Lombardi Trophy since January 1996.
The bad
news for the rest of the league is that Philadelphia are bringing back the bulk of their championship core, including quarterback Jalen Hurts, running back Saquon Barkley and elite receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said his team refuse to focus on past success and are instead trying to stay in the present in their bid to repeat as Super Bowl champions.
"When teams are trying so hard to repeat or trying so hard to recapture, there's two mistakes that they make. They either are looking at their past accomplishments or they're looking too far into the future of how do you do that again?" said Sirianni.
"And it's really about the daily grind that you go through day in and day out. There's a mental toughness to being able to do that and go through that every single day."
There will be plenty of focus on Pittsburgh as Rodgers, a four-times NFL Most Valuable Player, will be making his Steelers debut after the 41-year-old quarterback signed a one-year deal with the team during the off season.
Rodgers secured his legacy as one of the game's greatest quarterbacks during his 18 years with the Green Bay Packers but, after failing to hit his stride during a two-year tenure with the New York Jets, many wonder what he has left to offer.
Rodgers stopped short of offering predictions for this next chapter in his career and instead said he wanted to enjoy the chance to play for a Steelers franchise that has won a record-tying six Super Bowl titles.
"A lot of decisions that I've made over my career and life from strictly the ego, even if they turn out well, they're always unfulfilling," Rodgers said. "But the decisions made from the soul are usually pretty fulfilling.
"This was a decision that was best for my soul, and I felt like being here with coach (Mike Tomlin) and the guys they've got here and the opportunity here was the best for me. I'm excited to be here."
Rodgers, who threw for 3,897 yards and 28 touchdowns on a New York team that went 5-12 last season, will face the Jets in Pittsburgh's season opener on Sunday and his former Packers team on October 26.
KELCE FINALE?
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, a three-time Super Bowl winner who made headlines last week after he and pop superstar Taylor Swift jointly announced their engagement, is entering what many feel could be the last season of his NFL career.
Kelce, 35, has already produced one of the best careers for a tight end in NFL history but has said that for him the only acceptable result this year is celebrating a Super Bowl title on February 8 in Santa Clara, California.
"That's the only way I determine if it's a successful (season) or not," said Kelce. "It's just how I'm wired now."
While the season has yet to kick off, there already seems to be a shortlist for the eventual winner of the league's Most Valuable Player trophy.
Quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen (Buffalo Bills) and Lamar Jackson (Baltimore Ravens) - who between them have won the MVP award over the last three seasons - are expected to be in a three-horse race for the honor.
The 2025 season will also see the NFL continue its push into international markets with seven regular season games scheduled outside the U.S., starting on Friday in Sao Paulo when Kansas City face the Los Angeles Chargers.
The NFL's international slate of games then shifts to Dublin for a September 28 clash between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings, before three games in London and one each in Berlin and Madrid.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Ken Ferris)
