DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Browns announce 2026 schedule

I Would have liked the Falcons for the Home opener.

Kind of an intersting order. Home opener 3 games in after 2 of our better non div opponents. No back to back divisional games. I know they base strength of schedule on last years records but I don’t have faith that the jags, saints, Texans and colts are going to be as bad as some expect. Bengals are also due for an on year. I just don’t think Mike McCarthy is a good coach so I don’t know what to expect of the Steelers. Or the Ravens. But both teams won’t be terrible. I just don’t believe in Jackson Dart but coaching is way better so giants are also a big ?. I feel like this could easily turn into a pretty tough schedule but whatever. I appreciate it when the bye is very near the middle.

Interesting to also get the super rare “easy” schedule the season before we’re likely gunning for a qb in the draft. Probably an 8-9 close and out of the running for a top QB unless we move Miles. It’s a season of question marks for sure. Way more questions than answers.

Schedules are determined years in advance except for two games which are played against teams with similar records. One from the AFC, one from the NFC.

I agree that you can't get much out of strength of schedule. You can never tell from year to year how well a team is going to play.

This. And you never know who will start fast or slow. Who will get injuries. Too many variables to read much into the tealeaves ... just prepare for each game one at a time. If we can get to 8-9 or 9-8 this year I will be surprised and happy.

I think 2 road games to start the season and then coming home to 2 teams that made the playoffs last year will be a fairly tough start to the season. The new Oline needs to gel quickly and hopefully Garrett and the defense gets off to a fast start.

That's correct, except it is now 3 games, to get them to 17 total AND the opponents are determined in advance, not the schedules.

Now it is:
6 division games, 3 home and 3 away

8 non-division games from a rotating schedule of one division within each conference, this year it is AFC South and NFC South, (2) Home and (2) away from each division.

3 games, 2 from AFC and 1 from NFC, in our case, from a division different from the (2) above. So, for the AFC North in 2026, the AFC games will be the ranked opponents like your team in AFC West and AFC East. The last opponent will be ranked the same from any of the NFC East/West/North. Ranking in the division determines the opponent pool to choose from for the schedulers. These are the only (3) opponents undetermined at the end of the previous season. There is a rotating year over year from this tier that determines (2) home OR (2) away, one year you will have 8 home games, then next you will have 9 home games.