Examining the Most Logical Spain Opponents for Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins were announced as the home team for a game in Madrid during the 2025 season

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) cuts right as he keeps the ball on a play in the second quarter of the NFL Week 4 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Miami Dolphins at PayCor Stadium in downtown on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

Now that the Miami Dolphins have been announced as the home team for the NFL's first-ever game in Madrid, Spain, in 2025, the question turns to what team they'll be facing.

The final answer might not come until the NFL releases the 2025 regular season schedule, though there's a way to handicap the field among the Dolphins' nine opponents: the Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Los Angeles Chargers, Washington Commanders, New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Just don't be surprised if we end up with a battle of 2020 first-round quarterbacks.

THE LONG SHOTS TO FACE THE DOLPHINS IN MADRID

Right off the top, it's unlikely the Dolphins will face any of their AFC East opponents because, even though they faced the Jets in London in 2015, the NFL hasn't scheduled a division game overseas since 2019.

There have been 17 regular season games outside the United States since then (none in 2020 because of COVID) but they haven't featured a single division game.

We also probably can rule out the Dolphins facing the New Orleans Saints because the last time those teams were scheduled to play in Miami, in 2017, the game was played in London. It just would be strange to move this game overseas for a second consecutive time.

That leaves five teams in the mix: Baltimore, Cincinnati, the Chargers, Washington and Tampa Bay.

Before last year, the NFL overwhelmingly favored intraconference matchups, but there were two AFC-NFC games (Jets-Minnesota, Chicago-Jacksonville) in 2024.

Tampa Bay played in Germany in 2022, so perhaps the NFL will look elsewhere.

Of the four remaining teams, Washington is the one that's gone the longest without playing overseas. Washington last played in England in 2016, and that was against the Bengals, though the Bengals also played there in 2019.

The Chargers' last European game was in 2018, while Baltimore played in London in 2023.

Facing either the Bengals or Chargers would mean a matchup between two of the four quarterbacks taken in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft, a group that included Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert and Jordan Love.

DOLPHINS INTERNATIONAL HISTORY

The Dolphins, of course, are no strangers to overseas games, having played six of those already.

The last one was the 2023 game in Germany against the Kansas City Chiefs when the Dolphins lost 21-14 as the road team.

The Dolphins have also played five games in England, starting with the first-ever regular-season international game in 2007, a 17-7 loss against the New York Giants.

The Dolphins also defeated the Oakland Raiders (38-14) in London in 2014, lost against the New York Jets (27-14) in London in 2015, lost against the New Orleans Saints (20-0) in 2017, and lost against the Jacksonville Jaguars (23-20) in 2021.

Additionally, during the 2008 regular season, the Dolphins defeated the Buffalo Bills, 16-3, in Toronto, Canada.