Soon enough, May 14th to be specific, the NFL will release the schedule for the 2026 season. Once they do so it will be full steam ahead through the doldrums of the offseason towards training camp.
For now we at least know who the Dallas Cowboys will play and where those games will take place. In fact, we have known this since last season ended per the NFL’s rotational system.
In the time since we have also learned that the Cowboys will “host” the Baltimore Ravens during their Week 3 game in Brazil.
That is one thing that we can cross off of the list of unknowns.
There is one other thing we know, though.
Who will the Cowboys play on Thanksgiving Day?
Given that the Dallas Cowboys are the Dallas Cowboys we know that they will be playing at home on Thanksgiving Day. Such is tradition.
As we noted that Dallas is “hosting” the Ravens in Brazil, we know that Baltimore will not be who Dallas is playing on Turkey Day. This leaves us with eight possible opponents for them to play on that specific day.
Who does it make the most sense for the Cowboys to host on Thanksgiving in your mind? Last year, Dallas hosted the Kansas City Chiefs, and in years past they have played all of their division rivals as well.
Consider the teams who the Cowboys have played on Thanksgiving in recent memory:
- 2025: Kansas City Chiefs (Win)
- 2024: New York Giants (Win)
- 2023: Washington Commanders (Win)
- 2022: New York Giants (Win)
- 2021: Las Vegas Raiders (Loss)
- 2020: Washington (Loss)
- 2019: Buffalo Bills (Loss)
- 2018: Washington (Win)
- 2017: Los Angeles Chargers (Loss)
- 2016: Washington (Win)
The NFL has proven that they will go a little off-script with teams like the Raiders, Bills, or Chargers as Thanksgiving Day opponents for Dallas. Interestingly those were all Cowboys losses.
It makes sense that it would be a division rival based off of recent trends. The Cowboys hosted the Eagles on Thanksgiving back in 2014, perhaps the league feels like this is a proper time to revisit that idea. That is my official prediction, for what it’s worth.
Who do you think the Cowboys will host on Thanksgiving Day? Who do you want them to?
