The National Football League releases its regular season schedule for teams in mid-May. Until we get there, analysts like to break down the strength of schedule for teams heading into the season. Now usually, strength of schedule is determined by the record of the team from the previous season. As you can probably guess, that’s not a good way of doing so because it does not take into account offseason changes made by all teams around the league.
One analyst goes a different route. Warren Sharp takes
into account the projected wins total for all 32 teams set by Vegas when looking at strength of schedule. For example, the Buffalo Bills are projected to win double digit games this year which would make them a difficult opponent for anyone. Quite clearly, this is a much better way to determine strength of schedule that previous season win-loss record.
The Bills are ranked 14th overall in strength of schedule. Pretty much average. Looking at the other teams in the AFC East, the Miami Dolphins are dead last at 31st, meaning that on paper, they are projected to have an easy schedule. On the flip side, the New York Jets are set to have the sixth hardest schedule in the league while the New England Patriots are 12th overall.
As a reminder the AFC East is scheduled to play the teams in the AFC West and the NFC North this season which on paper seems to be a pretty difficult schedule, especially considering the quarterbacks we can presume the AFC East will face against those divisions — Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Caleb Williams, Jordan Love, Jared Goff, Bo Nix, and Kyler Murray now in Minnesota.
Should you as the reader put a ton of stock into this? Not really. Mainly because we never know what teams are going to look like until the season starts. Right now, the schedule may seem difficult, but once the games start being played our opinions will most likely change on many teams. However, going into the 2025 season, the Seattle Seahawks had the 22nd overall strength of schedule and ended up lifting the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season.
