{"id":673077,"date":"2026-05-15T18:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T18:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/673077\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T18:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T18:09:11","slug":"everything-fantasy-fans-need-to-know-about-the-2026-nfl-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/673077\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything Fantasy Fans Need To Know About The 2026 NFL Schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"

2026 NFL schedule<\/a>|\u00a0AFC record predictions<\/a>|\u00a0NFC record predictions<\/a>|\u00a0The Rams and the league\u2019s \u2018creative Super Bowl\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

The full 2026 NFL schedule was released on Thursday night, and it\u2019s chock-full of big-time matchups and games loaded with fantasy superstars. While I\u2019ve already talked about why the schedule release is mostly a nothing burger in fantasy football leagues<\/a>, at least in terms of fantasy points allowed data and the \u201cbest\u201d and \u201cworst\u201d schedules<\/a>, there were a few interesting nuggets I picked out of the new slate that you need to know before your fantasy drafts.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look.<\/p>\n

The bye weeks<\/p>\n

The byes begin in Week 5 with the Chiefs and Panthers and end in Week 14 with the Cardinals and Cowboys. At least there isn\u2019t a bye-maggedon (six teams on a bye) in the week before the fantasy postseason like there was in 2024! The NFL did fantasy fans a favor, as just two teams are off in the week before the fantasy playoffs begin in most standard leagues.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is only one week during this stretch with no byes (Week 12). That is Thanksgiving Week, when the league has a game on Wednesday, three games on Thursday and one game on Black Friday. There are three weeks (5, 9, 14) with two teams off; five weeks (6-8, 10, 13) with four teams off; and just one week (11) with six teams off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The most notable among these byes is Week 10, when fantasy fans will be without the fantasy stars from Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay. If you\u2019re wondering, bye-mageddon week (11) includes the Browns, Falcons, Packers, Patriots, Rams and Seahawks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Travel<\/p>\n

Playing in the National Football League can be very taxing on the body, but so can travel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The teams that will travel the most miles next season: 49ers (38,105 miles), Rams (34,847), Texans (28,470), Cowboys (27,980) and Patriots (27,590). This will be the second consecutive year that the Rams will travel more than 34,000 miles (imagine the frequent-flier miles!). The teams that will travel the least this season: Panthers (8.740 miles), Browns (9,073 miles), Bears (10,767 miles), Buccaneers (12,185 miles) and Packers (12,673 miles).<\/p>\n

RK<\/p>\n

Team<\/p>\n

Miles<\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

49ers<\/p>\n

38,105<\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

Rams<\/p>\n

34,847<\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Texans<\/p>\n

28,470<\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Cowboys<\/p>\n

27,980<\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Patriots<\/p>\n

27,590<\/p>\n

6<\/p>\n

Dolphins<\/p>\n

27,568<\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

Chargers<\/p>\n

24,816<\/p>\n

8<\/p>\n

Jagaurs<\/p>\n

23,392<\/p>\n

9<\/p>\n

Eagles<\/p>\n

22,115<\/p>\n

10<\/p>\n

Seahawks<\/p>\n

22,056<\/p>\n

11<\/p>\n

Saints<\/p>\n

21,892<\/p>\n

12<\/p>\n

Raiders<\/p>\n

21,099<\/p>\n

13<\/p>\n

Bills<\/p>\n

19,734<\/p>\n

14<\/p>\n

Broncos<\/p>\n

19129<\/p>\n

15<\/p>\n

Lions<\/p>\n

18,958<\/p>\n

16<\/p>\n

Commanders<\/p>\n

18,491<\/p>\n

17<\/p>\n

Chiefs<\/p>\n

18,401<\/p>\n

18<\/p>\n

Titans<\/p>\n

18,157<\/p>\n

19<\/p>\n

Giants<\/p>\n

18,109<\/p>\n

20<\/p>\n

Falcons<\/p>\n

17,431<\/p>\n

21<\/p>\n

Ravens<\/p>\n

17,422<\/p>\n

22<\/p>\n

Colts<\/p>\n

15,868<\/p>\n

23<\/p>\n

Cardinals<\/p>\n

15,646<\/p>\n

24<\/p>\n

Bengals<\/p>\n

15,177<\/p>\n

25<\/p>\n

Vikings<\/p>\n

14,852<\/p>\n

26<\/p>\n

Steelers<\/p>\n

14,183<\/p>\n

27<\/p>\n

Jets<\/p>\n

14,038<\/p>\n

28<\/p>\n

Packers<\/p>\n

12,673<\/p>\n

29<\/p>\n

Buccaneers<\/p>\n

12,185<\/p>\n

30<\/p>\n

Bears<\/p>\n

10,676<\/p>\n

31<\/p>\n

Browns<\/p>\n

9,073<\/p>\n

32<\/p>\n

Panthers<\/p>\n

8,740<\/p>\n

International games<\/p>\n

The NFL will play a record nine international games<\/a> this season, starting in Week 1 when the 49ers face the Rams in Melbourne, Australia. Fantasy fans should be aware that the game will be played on a Friday in Australia (10:35 am kickoff) but on a Thursday night in the United States (8:35 p.m. ET kickoff). The Cowboys will face the Ravens in Brazil in Week 3, the Commanders will battle the Colts in London in Week 4 and the Eagles will face the Jaguars in London in Week 5. In Week 6, the Jags will play the Texans again in London.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Steelers will face off against the Saints in France in Week 7; the Bengals and Falcons will battle in Spain in Week 9; the Patriots and Lions will duke it out in Germany in Week 10; and finally, the 49ers will face off against the Vikings in Mexico City in Week 11. Of these nine games, six will have kickoffs at 9:30 am ET\/6:30 a.m. PT, so be sure to set those lineups early!<\/p>\n

Prime-time games<\/p>\n

The first prime-time game will be played in Week 1, when the Patriots and Seahawks have a rare\u00a0 Wednesday night rematch of the Super Bowl. The Bills and Rams have the most prime-time games (7), while the Chiefs, Cowboys, Packers and Seahawks have six games apiece. The Giants, Lions, Ravens, Steelers, Texans and Vikings have four prime-time tilts, and the Bengals, Broncos, Buccaneers, Chargers, Commanders, Falcons, Jaguars and Panthers have three.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Colts have two prime-time games, the Browns and Saints have one apiece, and the Cardinals, Dolphins, Jets, Raiders and Titans will all be left out in primetime<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dome sweet dome<\/p>\n

Playing indoors, especially in the winter months, is always an advantage for NFL offenses. Here are the teams with the most games being played in domes or retractable-roof stadiums in 2026.<\/p>\n

13 games: Cardinals\u00a0
12 games: Cowboys
11 games: Falcons, Raiders, Rams, Vikings\u00a0
10 games: Chargers, Chargers, Texans\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fantasy football postseason: easiest<\/p>\n

The Bengals have one of the easiest schedules for the full season, and the fantasy playoffs are no different with matchups against the Panthers, Colts and Ravens. The Lions also face a nice slate overall, and matchups against the Vikings, Giants and Bears could be beneficial (two of those games are in domes, too). New Orleans should benefit from a light slate too, and they\u2019ll face the Buccaneers, Cardinals and Falcons in the fantasy playoffs (two games indoors). The Vikings face two home games in the playoffs, and all three contests (Lions, Commanders, Jets) are favorable. The Week 17 matchup in New York could have some weather, though.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fantasy football postseason: toughest<\/p>\n

The Dolphins don\u2019t have many fantasy assets, and their playoff slate is tough with matchups at the Packers and at home against the Chargers and Bills. The Super Bowl champion Seahawks could struggle in the fantasy playoffs, too, as they\u2019ll face the Eagles on the road, plus a tough home game against the Rams. It does get easier in fantasy championship week against the Panthers, however. While I wouldn\u2019t tell you to avoid Chiefs altogether, managers should keep in mind that they face the Patriots, 49ers, and Chargers during the fantasy playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More NFL from Sports Illustrated\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2026 NFL schedule|\u00a0AFC record predictions|\u00a0NFC record predictions|\u00a0The Rams and the league\u2019s \u2018creative Super Bowl\u2019 The full 2026 NFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-673077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}