5 Teams With The Most Favorable 2026 NFL Schedules

There are no easy paths in the NFL, but some schedules are lighter than others. Here are five teams with the most favorable 2026 NFL schedules.

It’s not always clear until the NFL season is unfolding which teams have the easiest or toughest paths to the playoffs.

There are surprises teams — good and bad — every year, season-shifting injuries, etc.

For instance, nobody knew when last season started that the New England Patriots would play an endless stream of backup, bad or soon-to-be benched quarterbacks on the way to winning the AFC East. That’s just the way it played out

But with the 2026 NFL schedule release Thursday, there is at least some sense for which teams got a more favorable slate than others.

The simplest way to look at it is to calculate the 2025 winning percentage of all the opponents on a team’s schedule. That would suggest the Cleveland Browns (.429 opponents’ winning percentage) have it the easiest, but that’s not taking into account expectations for 2026.

For instance, the Browns plays the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals twice each and the Atlanta Falcons — all three teams missed the playoffs last year, but the Ravens are considered a Super Bowl contender in 2026, the Bengals with a healthy Joe Burrow are a much different team and the Falcons are a prime candidate to take a step forward as well.

So it’s not as simple as extrapolating from last season. The NFL landscape changes year to year.

Which Teams Have The Easiest NFL Schedules In 2026?

We’ve crunched the numbers and also applied other perspective in breaking it down, and here are the five teams with the most favorable schedules in the league this season …

1. Detroit Lions

2026 schedule: vs. Saints, at Bills, vs. Jets, at Panthers, at Cardinals, BYE, vs. Packers, vs. Vikings, at Dolphins, vs. Patriots, vs. Buccaneers, vs. Bears, at Falcons, vs. Titans, at Vikings, vs. Giants, at Bears, at Packers.

The Lions’ 2026 opponents posted a combined winning percentage of .467 last season, which is the sixth-worst of any schedule this year, but they claim the top spot on our list nonetheless.

Detroit has one really daunting matchup in the first five weeks of the season, playing the Bills on the road in Week 2. Otherwise, that opening stretch includes home games vs. the Saints and Jets and road games with the Panthers and Cardinals.

Sure, the Panthers backed into the playoffs last year, but the argument could be made they’re the third- or fourth-best team in their division. The Saints finished 2025 strong and could have some momentum. But Detroit should be disappointed with anything less than a 4-1 start.

There’s no getting around the fact that the Lions are in one of the most loaded divisions and have to play NFC North foes the Bears, Packers and Vikings twice each.

But the rest of the schedule is pretty favorable. In addition to that opening stretch of games and the division battles, the Lions play the Dolphins and Falcons on the road and are home vs. the Patriots, Buccaneers, Titans and Giants.

Getting the Jets, Cardinals, Dolphins, Titans and Giants, having nine home games in the 17-game slate and having only on truly treacherous out-of-division road game (Buffalo) is fortuitous indeed.

2. Cleveland Browns

2026 schedule: at Jaguars, at Buccaneers, vs. Panthers, vs. Steelers, at Jets, vs. Ravens, at Titans, at Steelers, at Saints, vs. Texans, BYE, vs. Raiders, vs. Bengals, vs. Falcons, at Giants, at Ravens, vs. Colts, at Bengals.

Unfortunately, the Browns don’t get the benefit the rest of the AFC North teams have — playing the Browns twice.

But the NFL schedule gave Cleveland a break in other ways — like playing the Jets, Titans, Raiders and Giants out of division. All should be better than they were last year, those (plus the Cardinals and Browns themselves) are the opponents any team would desire.

Ditto for playing the entire NFC South. The Buccaneers could be in regression, the Panthers are still rather blah despite sneaking into the playoffs last year and the Saints are certainly improved but no world-beaters with Tyler Shough at QB.

To be clear, we’re not promising the Browns are equipped to take advantage of that favorable slate, but they too are improved and should at least take a step forward in 2026.

3. Baltimore Ravens

2026 Schedule: at Colts, vs. Saints, vs. Cowboys, vs. Titans, at Falcons, at Browns, vs. Bengals, at Bills, vs. Jaguars, vs. Chargers, at Panthers, at Texans, BYE, vs. Buccaneers, at Steelers, vs. Browns, at Bengals, vs. Steelers.

The Ravens look like Super Bowl contenders in 2026 if Lamar Jackson stays health and new head coach Jesse Minter and some offseason reinforcements can fix the defense after a dip in 2025.

The schedule helps too.

Nine home games, two games each against the Browns and the Bengals still uninspiring defense, and playing the entire AFC South and NFC South is a gift.

The Jaguars look like a prime regression team after a net-negative offseason, the Colts looks worse as well, the Titans are still the Titans until proven otherwise and we covered our thoughts on the Buccaneers, Panthers and Saints.

Road games against the Bills and Texans in November will be very challenging, and the Ravens also host a good Chargers team. That’s three really tough matchups outside the division.

Add in a home game with the Cowboys and a road game with the Falcons as potentially difficult matchups, plus obviously the two rivalry games with the Steelers.

But the rest lines up rather well. It wouldn’t be a total surprise to see Baltimore 7-0 heading into that trip to Buffalo.

4. Cincinnati Bengals

2026 Schedule: vs. Buccaneers, at Texans, at Steelers, vs. Jaguars, at Dolphins, BYE, at Ravens, vs. Titans, vs. Falcons, vs. Steelers, at Commanders, vs. Saints, at Browns, vs. Chiefs, at Panthers, at Colts, vs. Ravens, vs. Browns.

A lot of this is based on, again, our projection that the Jaguars are worse than expected and the Colts, Saints, Panthers and Buccaneers are all middling teams again.

Add in the highly advantageous matchups with the Dolphins, Titans and twice vs. the Browns and that’s a nice setup for a Bengals team that will hope to have a fully healthy Joe Burrow and a somewhat improved defense.

5. New Orleans Saints

2026 Schedule: at Lions, at Ravens, vs. Raiders, vs. Falcons, vs. Vikings, at Giants, vs. Steelers, BYE, vs. Browns, vs. Panthers, at Bears, at Bengals, vs. Packers, at Panthers, at Buccaneers, vs. Cardinals, at Falcons, vs. Buccaneers.

Drawing the loaded NFC North adds to the degree of difficulty here, along with the AFC North to a lesser degree (especially that road game vs. the Ravens).

But otherwise? First, nine home games and six games against the rest of the mediocre NFC South is favorable starting point. Then sprinkle in the Raiders, Giants, Browns (by virtue of matching up with the AFC North) and Cardinals, and that’s a recipe for good things for an improving Saints team (even if we still have our doubts about Shough and Co.).

Also, after a brutal start with road games against the Lions and Ravens, the Saints are then home six of the next seven games with the Giants the lone away game in that stretch. Talk about a prime opportunity to build some momentum.