Matthew Stafford’s 18th season will begin almost 8,000 miles away from Los Angeles. Soobum Im / Getty Images
By The Athletic NFL Staff
May 14, 2026 9:00 am EDT
The NFL will release the 2026 schedules for all 32 teams at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday. Here is what we know about the Los Angeles Rams’ schedule so far.
The Rams will play each team from the NFC East and AFC West, as well as the 2025 second-place teams from the NFC North, NFC South and AFC East. Los Angeles will also see its NFC West division rivals twice, once on the road and once at SoFi Stadium (with one notable exception), as part of its 17-game schedule.
We already know details for two Rams games. They’ll play the first of the league’s nine international contests Thursday, Sept. 10 (Week 1) against the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia. (As the designated “home” team in Melbourne, the Rams requested the Niners as their opponent, preferring a neutral site to a SoFi Stadium overrun by Niners fans.) They’ll also host the first-ever Thanksgiving Eve game on Nov. 25 against the Green Bay Packers. Both games will be streamed on Netflix.
Here is the lineup of home and road opponents, listed alphabetically with the international game highlighted.
Rams’ 2026 opponents
HomeRoad
Arizona Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
Buffalo Bills
Denver Broncos
Dallas Cowboys
Las Vegas Raiders
Green Bay Packers
Philadelphia Eagles
Kansas City Chiefs
San Francisco 49ers
Los Angeles Chargers
Seattle Seahawks
New York Giants
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
San Francisco 49ers
Washington Commanders
Seattle Seahawks
The Rams went 12-5 in the 2025 regular season, then won two playoff games before coming up just short of a trip to the Super Bowl, falling to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC title game. As reigning MVP Matthew Stafford returns for another season at age 38, Los Angeles will travel the second-most miles of any NFL team (34,847), according to Bill Speros of Bookies.com. The round trip to Melbourne (7,920 miles each way) accounts for more than 45 percent of that figure alone.
Come back Thursday night for the Rams’ week-to-week schedule, plus season analysis and predictions.
May 14, 2026
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