The 2026 NFL schedule release has fans ready for some football. What are some of the marquee matchups? Which teams are expected to endure the most difficult schedules, and who hopes to benefit from the softer schedules in the league? We have the answers.
The strength of an NFL team’s schedule is not determinative, but it can go a long way.
There was not a better example last season than the New England Patriots, whose opponents won a league-low 91 regular-season games against 147 losses (a mere .391 opponent win percentage). Did it help the Patriots, en route to a 14-3 record and a Super Bowl appearance, that most of the teams they played were mediocre or worse? Yeah, probably.
We’ve already known each team’s home and away opponents for months, but we now have the complete 2026 NFL schedule after the league released it Thursday night.
Here’s how every team in the league stacks up based on its opponents’ winning percentage from 2025 – the highest on down – with additional Opta metrics such as the EVE (efficiency versus expected) model and TRACR (Team Rating Adjusted for Conference and Roster) rankings.
Additionally with the 2026 NFL schedule, we’ve picked out a highlight or two with every team.
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3 months ago Taylor Bechtold1. Chicago Bears (Opponent Win%: .550)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 10.51 (16th) 2025 Record: 11-6 2025 EVE Rank: 23rd 2025 TRACR Rank: 20thThe Highlights: Let’s not overcomplicate it: The Bears slayed some Green Bay demons last season but remain stuck on three wins at Lambeau Field since 2008. Their latest trip to that hallowed ground is in Week 5, and a win would go a long way toward entrenching the Bears in the NFC North.
2. Miami Dolphins (Opponent Win%: .542)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 7.84 (28th) 2025 Record: 7-10 2025 EVE Rank: 19th 2025 TRACR Rank: 30thThe Highlights: On the one hand, it feels downright cruel to the Dolphins that they’d face this difficult of a schedule in a year in which the front office is, if not tanking, at least exploring the concept. The highlight here could come with the franchise being in position to draft Texas quarterback Arch Manning at No. 1 overall in the 2027 NFL Draft.
T-3. Arizona Cardinals (Opponent Win%: .538)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 9.36 (24th) 2025 Record: 3-14 2025 EVE Rank: 28th 2025 TRACR Rank: 24thThe Highlights: The Cardinals have a Week 17 home game against the Las Vegas Raiders that will be a fun running back showcase. Skeptics of first-round picks at the position can take note of the Cards’ No. 3 pick from 2026, Jeremiyah Love, facing 2025’s No. 6 selection Ashton Jeanty.
T-3. Green Bay Packers (Opponent Win%: .538)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 12.76 (4th) 2025 Record: 9-7-1 2025 EVE Rank: 7th 2025 TRACR Rank: 8thThe Highlights: How about the Packers visiting the Los Angeles Rams the night before Thanksgiving? Yes, the NFL’s first Thanksgiving Eve matchup on Nov. 25 could be one of the last handful of games in Matthew Stafford’s career, and it will be one of several brutal road tests this year for the Packers’ similarly crafty Jordan Love.
5. Kansas City Chiefs (Opponent Win%: .536)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 10.22 (18th) 2025 Record: 6-11 2025 EVE Rank: 16th 2025 TRACR Rank: 18thThe Highlights: No question: A “Monday Night Football” game against the Denver Broncos in Week 1 is a headliner. Patrick Mahomes would ideally be back on the field by that point, but either way, it will be a bit jarring to see the Chiefs playing the role of chaser in the AFC West rather than the typical leader everyone else is hunting.
6. New England Patriots (Opponent Win%: .531)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 12.18 (6th) 2025 Record: 14-3 2025 EVE Rank: 1st 2025 TRACR Rank: 6thThe Highlights: A Super Bowl rematch against the Seahawks in Seattle to open the entire NFL schedule (Sept. 9) leads the way, but the Patriots having an AFC championship game encore against the Broncos looms in Foxborough in Week 17, too.
7. Las Vegas Raiders (Opponent Win%: .529)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 8.76 (26th) 2025 Record: 3-14 2025 EVE Rank: 27th 2025 TRACR Rank: 29thThe Highlights: This one depends entirely on when No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza makes his first start for the Raiders. If that’s against the Dolphins in Week 1, that’s the highlight of Vegas’ season. If Kirk Cousins is starting at that point, just hang tight. We won’t call it Fernandomania out of respect to the late, great Fernando Valenzuela. But the excitement around the new Raider will be a nice tonic amid another likely long season.
8. Buffalo Bills (Opponent Win%: .528)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 9.78 (21st) 2025 Record: 12-5 2025 EVE Rank: 6th 2025 TRACR Rank: 11thThe Highlights: Week 2 against the Detroit Lions (a Thursday night matchup) marks the first official game at Highmark Stadium, the glistening new venue the Bills have wanted for decades. They’re working on the longest active streak of playoff appearances at seven (since 2019).
9. Los Angeles Chargers (Opponent Win%: .522)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 10.45 (17th) 2025 Record: 11-6 2025 EVE Rank: 15th 2025 TRACR Rank: 17thThe Highlights: At some point, Chargers QB Justin Herbert will either take the next step – or he won’t. A visit to Seattle in Week 4 to face that stifling, world championship defense could be revealing. So could a Week 12 home date with the Patriots, who utterly destroyed Herbert in the playoffs last season (his offensive line stunk in that game, too, but the QB didn’t cover himself in glory).
10. Carolina Panthers (Opponent Win%: .521)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 11.40 (12th) 2025 Record: 8-9 2025 EVE Rank: 24th 2025 TRACR Rank: 12thThe Highlights: The Panthers won the NFC South at 8-9 last year, earning the tiebreaker after sharing the same record with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons. Any of the six games between those three teams could, nominally speaking, be one of the more important moments of the NFL season. Don’t miss it! Or do.
11. Minnesota Vikings (Opponent Win%: .519)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 10.20 (19th) 2025 Record: 9-8 2025 EVE Rank: 11th 2025 TRACR Rank: 28thThe Highlights: The Vikings will be playing a de-facto road game in Mexico City on Nov. 22 against the San Francisco 49ers. Estadio Banorte should be a rocking scene for that “Sunday Night Football” clash. A fun game is guessing who will be starting at quarterback for Minnesota by that point of the season. Kyler Murray probably, but will JJ McCarthy still be around? Max Brosmer? Do we hear a Carson Wentz?
12. New York Jets (Opponent Win%: .517)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 6.30 (30th) 2025 Record: 3-14 2025 EVE Rank: 30th 2025 TRACR Rank: 32ndThe Highlights: Prediction: The Jets will get their first interception in Week 1 at the Tennessee Titans. That will have to count as a highlight. They’ll also host the Bills in Week 10 in a fun clash against a New York team that actually plays in the state of New York.
13. Los Angeles Rams (Opponent Win%: .516)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 16.63 (1st) 2025 Record: 12-5 2025 EVE Rank: 3rd 2025 TRACR Rank: 3rdThe Highlights: You have to expect the Rams to make the playoffs, but one never knows. And if they don’t, that could set up Week 18 against the Seahawks to be Stafford’s final game, as the QB continues in a year-to-year holding pattern. Watching as much Stafford football as possible is practical because the NFC West will have a lot of marquee intra-division contests.
14. Seattle Seahawks (Opponent Win%: .514)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 10.56 (15th) 2025 Record: 14-3 2025 EVE Rank: 2nd 2025 TRACR Rank: 10thThe Highlights: The opener of the NFL schedule is also the Super Bowl champions’ banner-raising night, Wednesday of Week 1 against the Patriots on NBC. A visit to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 15 is probably the best on-paper matchup of the regular season. The Seahawks also play Denver, Kansas City and the Chargers. This team is great but could ring up a fairly high loss total anyway because of the schedule.
15. Denver Broncos (Opponent Win%: .512)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 12.06 (8th) 2025 Record: 14-3 2025 EVE Rank: 12th 2025 TRACR Rank: 23rdThe Highlights: The games against the Chiefs in Weeks 1 and 8 will be significant both narratively and in the AFC West standings. Also, Buffalo visits in Week 16, hoping to avenge a playoff loss to the Broncos in which Bills QB Josh Allen alternated between looking like Superman and making some of the worst plays of his career.
16. Washington Commanders (Opponent Win%: .502)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 8.87 (25th) 2025 Record: 5-12 2025 EVE Rank: 25th 2025 TRACR Rank: 21stThe Highlights: A date with the Indianapolis Colts in London in Week 4 could be a better showcase for the sport than several of the NFL’s recent international games (what better diplomatic offering than Daniel Jones?). A home game against Seattle one week earlier on Sept. 24 will be a proving ground for Commanders QB Jayden Daniels, who’s trying to be more like his rookie self than his sophomore self.
17. New York Giants (Opponent Win%: .498)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 5.75 (31st) 2025 Record: 4-13 2025 EVE Rank: 21st 2025 TRACR Rank: 26thThe Highlights: As over-subjected as national TV audiences are to NFC East games, the Week 1 SNF home date with the Cowboys will be a significant tone-setter for the Giants. Things could spiral quickly for a team that traded nose tackle Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals and stacks up terribly in our models. But a nice, vibe-shifting win to kick off coach John Harbaugh’s first season and QB Jaxson Dart’s second could go a long way.
18. San Francisco 49ers (Opponent Win%: .497)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 11.15 (13th) 2025 Record: 12-5 2025 EVE Rank: 13th 2025 TRACR Rank: 22ndThe Highlights: The Mexico City game against the Vikings in Week 11 isn’t even San Francisco’s first international outing of the year. The 49ers first have a Week 1 clash with the Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to get everyone’s blood pressure up quickly.
19. Pittsburgh Steelers (Opponent Win%: .495)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 11.86 (9th) 2025 Record: 10-7 2025 EVE Rank: 22nd 2025 TRACR Rank: 15thThe Highlights: When the Steelers play Baltimore on Dec. 20, it will be the teams’ first matchup since 2008 that does not pit Mike Tomlin against John Harbaugh. Something tells us Mike McCarthy will not stick around as long as Tomlin did, but beating Jesse Minter and the Ravens would be huge in his first season with the Steelers. Oh, they play the Ravens again just three weeks later in Week 18.
20. Dallas Cowboys (Opponent Win%: .493)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 12.09 (7th) 2025 Record: 7-9-1 2025 EVE Rank: 20th 2025 TRACR Rank: 4thThe Highlights: The Week 1 trip to the Meadowlands to face the Giants will dictate the tenor of conversation around the Cowboys in the early going. A trip to Brazil and the capital of Rio de Janeiro to play the Ravens two weeks later will make for a more compelling football game, though. And then there’s a Monday night game at Seattle in Week 13.
21. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Opponent Win%: .491)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 11.75 (10th) 2025 Record: 8-9 2025 EVE Rank: 26th 2025 TRACR Rank: 13thThe Highlights: Of all the games that could decide the NFC South – and there are a lot of them given the mediocre parity of the division – Week 18 at the New Orleans Saints may have the best chance to be decisive. A visit to Detroit in Week 11 will present the latest rematch of a tough playoff loss at the end of the 2023 season. We mention this because Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield has always had the memory of an elephant. These teams will soon have played at least five times since October 2023. Familiarity, contempt …
22. Jacksonville Jaguars (Opponent Win%: .490)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 11.67 (11th) 2025 Record: 13-4 2025 EVE Rank: 5th 2025 TRACR Rank: 9thThe Highlights: The Jaguars are good enough now that their international games not only aren’t an insult to foreign countries but, this year, are some of the more fun matchups of the NFL schedule. A back-to-back in London with the Eagles (Week 5) and Houston Texans (Week 6) will be one of the toughest stretches any team faces all season, especially given the geography of it all.
23. Philadelphia Eagles (Opponent Win%: .481)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 14.84 (2nd) 2025 Record: 11-6 2025 EVE Rank: 14th 2025 TRACR Rank: 2ndThe Highlights: That home game against Seattle on Dec. 17 is a huge deal for the Eagles. And how about a visit to the 49ers in Week 17? But the Steelers also visit in Week 11 to try to snap one of the more perplexing streaks in sports: an 0-11 run on the other side of Pennsylvania that dates back to the team’s last win there … in 1965.
24. Baltimore Ravens (Opponent Win%: .479)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 9.37 (23rd) 2025 Record: 8-9 2025 EVE Rank: 4th 2025 TRACR Rank: 7thThe Highlights: It’ll be jarring to see a non-Harbaugh lead the Ravens in Week 1 (at least they face Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers in Baltimore in Week 10). A visit to the Bills’ new stadium on Week 8 will be fun, too, even if not quite as fun as the absurd come-from-ahead loss the Ravens took there at the start of last season.
25. Tennessee Titans (Opponent Win%: .476)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 5.43 (32nd) 2025 Record: 3-14 2025 EVE Rank: 32nd 2025 TRACR Rank: 27thThe Highlights: It would be a joy to see Cam Ward take a big step forward in his second season after the Titans drafted him No. 1 overall. If there’s one day that’s likeliest to happen, it’s when the Titans host the Jets to open their season on Sept. 13.
26. Houston Texans (Opponent Win%: .474)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 12.56 (5th) 2025 Record: 12-5 2025 EVE Rank: 9th 2025 TRACR Rank: 14thThe Highlights: There are very few unit-on-unit matchups that offer more strength against strength than the Texas’ defensive front taking on the Eagles’ offensive line on Christmas Eve in Philadelphia. Also fun: The Texans facing the Bills (Week 1 at home) and Packers (Week 17 on the road).
27. Detroit Lions (Opponent Win%: .467)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 13.52 (3rd) 2025 Record: 9-8 2025 EVE Rank: 8th 2025 TRACR Rank: 1stThe Highlights: Our models expect the Lions to be really good this year after a weird (and injury-aided) step backward in 2025. A Week 2 Thursday nighter in Buffalo will be a great test for both teams, as will be a game in Munich against the Patriots in Week 10.
T-28. Atlanta Falcons (Opponent Win%: .465)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 7.52 (29th) 2025 Record: 8-9 2025 EVE Rank: 17th 2025 TRACR Rank: 5thThe Highlights: Setting-wise, a Nov. 8 date with the Bengals at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu leads the slate here. Actually, maybe it doesn’t, as the Falcons go to Lambeau to play the Packers on Sept. 24.
T-28. Indianapolis Colts (Opponent Win%: .465)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 8.23 (27th) 2025 Record: 8-9 2025 EVE Rank: 10th 2025 TRACR Rank: 25thThe Highlights: The Colts are not tanking, but we also don’t think they’re very good, and paying Daniel Jones (who’s coming off a major injury) a $60 million guarantee on a two-year deal suggests a desire to be competitive right now. That means at least splitting four games with the Texans and Jaguars and probably sweeping the Titans to stay solvent in the AFC South.
30. Cincinnati Bengals (Opponent Win%: .450)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 10.78 (14th) 2025 Record: 6-11 2025 EVE Rank: 31st 2025 TRACR Rank: 16thThe Highlights: Cincinnati gave up a high first-round pick to get one of the league’s great defensive tackles in Dexter Lawrence. There’s really no better test of how well that’s going than the team’s standard two games against the Ravens, the first of those coming on the road in Week 7. Of course, the Bengals also really need the medical gods to let Joe Burrow and his wide receivers play a full season together.
31. New Orleans Saints (Opponent Win%: .434)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 9.89 (20th) 2025 Record: 6-11 2025 EVE Rank: 18th 2025 TRACR Rank: 19thThe Highlights: Is this schedule bad enough that roughly the 20th-best team in the league could sneak into the playoffs out of a terrible division? It might be, yeah – it’s at least on the table. You have to love that the team from New Orleans is taking part in a Week 7 game in Paris against the Steelers. That’s also a good measuring-stick game against the league’s ultimate wild-card fodder. If the Saints can beat Pittsburgh, it doesn’t mean a ton but does suggest they could be a No. 7 seed. (Or, well, a No. 4.)
32. Cleveland Browns (Opponent Win%: .429)
Post-NFL Draft Rating: 9.62 (22nd) 2025 Record: 5-12 2025 EVE Rank: 29th 2025 TRACR Rank: 31stThe Highlights: The Browns get to skip all of the league’s anticipated marquee teams. Their highlight just may be Week 18 of the NFL schedule at the Bengals because it’s the last possible game in which the Browns will have Deshaun Watson on their roster. It will mark a merciful ending to the worst contract tenure in football history.
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2026 NFL Schedule: Highlights, Takeaways and Teams With the Hardest Playoff Paths Opta Analyst.
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