Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

NFL Preseason Games Today – What NFL Preseason Games are being played on Friday Night? NFL Preseason Games Start Time and Where to Watch

Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Week 1 of the 2025 Preseason has already seen three games being played on Thursday. We now turn our attention to Friday night for three more exciting matchups.

Being just the first game of the preseason, expect to find most of the starters on the sidelines as the rookies and fringe players take the majority of the snaps as they battle for spots on the roster.

NFL 2025 Preseason Games on Friday

The Browns will take on the Panthers at 7:00 PM ET, while the Lions go up against the Falcons at the same time. Game 3 will feature the Commanders against the Patriots starting at 7:30 PM ET.

Matchup	Time (ET)	Venue
Cleveland Browns @ Carolina Panthers	7:00 PM	Bank of America Stadium
Detroit Lions @ Atlanta Falcons	7:00 PM	Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Washington Commanders @ New England Patriots	7:30 PM	Gillette Stadium

Cleveland Browns vs. Carolina Panthers

The Cleveland Browns will travel to Charlotte, North Carolina, to take on the Carolina Panthers in their first preseason game. The majority of the focus for Browns fans will be on the performance of starting quarterback Shedeur Sanders.

The Browns quarterback situation looks completely out of control, seeing as they have 6 signal callers on the roster, with at least 4 competing to start under center. In any case, Sanders is put in as the starter despite not getting any first-team reps since the start of training camp. How good he looks tonight will be the big question.

Browns play their first preseason game against the Panthers on Friday, Aug. 8, in Charlotte. pic.twitter.com/urdyD14ahE
— News 5 Cleveland (@WEWS) August 8, 2025

As for the Panthers, head coach Dave Canalles has confirmed that Carolina’s starters will play in this game as well as next week’s game. That means we should be seeing Bryce Young under center, along with many other first-team players, for at least a few drives if not more. Also, keep an eye out for the competition at the receiver position and the defensive line.

Detroit Lions vs. Atlanta Falcons

Detroit will head on over to Atlanta in its first preseason game. The Lions are expected to rest most of their starters. The Lions have technically already played a preseason game, which was the Hall of Fame game against the Chargers.

Detroit will want to put up a much better effort against the Falcons. Against the Chargers, the Lions got off to a slow start and turned the ball over as many as five times. Both backup quarterbacks had a disastrous game, so it will be interesting to see how they fare tonight.

Lions QB Hendon Hooker will start the preseason game vs. the Falcons on Friday, Dan Campbell said. pic.twitter.com/XqnI9hxrZK
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) August 3, 2025

Washington Commanders vs. New England Patriots

The Washington Commanders are set to open their preseason games with a Week 1 showdown against the New England Patriots. While there is no concrete news on which players will actually play, star wide receiver Terry McLaurin will not take part as his contract situation is yet to be resolved. Quarterback Jayden Daniels is also expected to be reduced to the role of a spectator.

As for the Patriots, they are starting a new era under head coach Mike Vrabel. Toughness is the message, as we witnessed during the practice session between these teams when Vrabel broke up a fight and got a bloodied cheek in the process.

He has said that almost everyone who is healthy should feature in the game, although to what extent is unknown. Keep an eye on the offensive line, which has been disappointing for the past few seasons.

Patriots coach Mike Vrabel says healthy players expected to play in preseason opener vs. Commandershttps://t.co/bIS0REjcur pic.twitter.com/JPcl1ifvEq
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) August 6, 2025

Where to Watch NFL Preseason Games

There are various ways for viewers to enjoy preseason NFL games, depending on whether the games are local or out of market.

Browns vs Panthers

Out-of-market viewers can watch the Browns and the Panthers game on the NFL Network and NFL+. Fans watching locally on TV can catch the game on FOX46 (Charlotte) and ABC5 (Cleveland).

Additionally, Panthers fans watching locally can also stream the game live on Panthers.com or the Panthers App. But this is available only for fans in the Panthers’ primary markets. Live streaming on Fubo is also available.

Lions vs Falcons

NBC will broadcast the Lions and Falcons preseason game (WALB in Albany, GA). For local viewers, the game will also be available on channels like Fox 5 (Atlanta) and Fox 2 (Detroit). Moreover, live streaming on Fubo is also available.

Commanders vs Patriots

The Commanders and Patriots games will be telecast on CBS affiliates WBZ-TV (Boston) and WUSA9 (Washington D.C.). As for out-of-market viewers, they can catch live streaming action on Fubo. In-market Patriots fans can also watch the game via Patriots.com or the Patriots app.

Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

2025 NFL Preseason Games

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Detroit Lions

New England Patriots

NFL

Washington Commanders

Devavrat Kulkarni

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I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!