Why the 2026 NFL schedule benefits the Lions and E...

playWhat Troy Aikman expects from Broncos-Chiefs looking ahead to Week 1 (0:39)Mike Greenberg and Troy Aikman weigh in on Broncos-Chiefs kicking off "Monday Night Football" for Week 1. (0:39) The 2026 NFL schedule has been released, and we're now one step closer to the start of the season. This column will examine how the slate affects the fantasy football landscape in two different ways: Which offenses and specific players have it the easiest and hardest? Note that since Week 18 is no longer included in default ESPN Fantasy Football leagues, it is not included in the fantasy football portion of this study. The analysis below is your next step in preparing for the 2026 fantasy football season. More: Rankings | Projections | Rookies | Offseason moves For this section, my strength of schedule evaluation is not based on final 2025 records, which is often what you'll see in this type of column. There has already been a ton of roster movement this offseason and injured players will return to action, so all of that is factored into each team's 2026 prospects. My evaluation of each roster -- not last year's production -- is what I use to generate the easiest and toughest schedules for each offense. Create a league and customize league size, scoring and rules to play in the league you want to play in. The Lions' schedule does not include a single defense projected to finish in the top 10, with their three hardest opponents projected to be the Green Bay Packers (their road matchup is in Week 18), Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New England Patriots. They have a substantial number of attractive matchups, including the Miami Dolphins, Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans, New York Giants and New Orleans Saints. This is obviously good news across the board for Detroit's fantasy-relevant players, but especially for Jahmyr Gibbs, who has a very attractive schedule and no longer has to fend off David Montgomery for work. Gibbs has a strong case to be the No. 1 overall pick in fantasy drafts. Rounding out the top-five easiest fantasy slates are the Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles (more on them later), Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens. The easiest slates during the fantasy playoffs (Weeks 15 to 17) belong to the Washington Commanders, Saints and Cardinals. Fantasy Women's Basketball is now open! Create or join a league today to get started. Arizona landing first on this list shouldn't be too surprising considering that nearly one-quarter of its games will be against elite Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks defenses. With the NFC West set to face off with the AFC West, the Cardinals' offense will also need to deal with good-to-great Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs defenses, as well as a tough matchup against the Eagles. On the plus side, there are a few attractive games on the slate, highlighted by the Commanders and Las Vegas Raiders. Interestingly, Arizona has a very hard regular-season schedule, but a much easier one during the fantasy playoffs (New York Jets, Saints, Raiders). Heavy volume should allow the likes of Jeremiyah Love and Trey McBride to overcome this hurdle, but receivers Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Wilson are a bit less attractive on draft day. The Carolina Panthers, Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars and Chargers round out the five toughest slates. The hardest schedules during the fantasy playoffs belong to the Eagles, Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. Included in this section is a 2026 strength of schedule chart for each of the primary fantasy positions: quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end, D/ST and kicker. These charts show where each position ranked in strength of schedule last season, as well as a projection for 2026 based on each team's schedule (Weeks 1 to 17). The lower/greener the number is, the easier the schedule. The higher/redder the number is, the harder the opposition. In this section, how effective the opposition is against each position is determined by last season's results. As noted earlier, that's not perfect, but there are two reasons why we still include this feature: One, studies have shown that there is some correlation between defensive effectiveness vs. each position year to year.Two, even if you ignore the future projections, there's something to be learned from the 2025 results.For example, as you can see below, Dallas Cowboys wide receivers had the second-hardest schedule last season. The unit projects for the ninth-easiest slate in 2026, but even if you ignore that part, good ol' regression to the mean suggests it is very unlikely to be quite as hard as it was last season. That's good news for CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens regardless of how you slice it. Here are a few key takeaways from this chart: The Eagles are sitting pretty with the easiest projected schedule at three of the four key fantasy positions (QB, RB, WR, TE). This checks out with five games against the NFC East, as we

Why the 2026 NFL schedule benefits the Lions and E...

Key takeaways

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