2026 season

Cleveland Browns 2026 Strength of Schedule: Tied for 20th-Hardest in the NFL

The Cleveland Browns are tied for the 20th-hardest schedule in the NFL for 2026: their 17 opponents average 8.38 projected wins, and 5 of them are projected winning teams, 4 of those projected for 10 wins or more.

The latest Browns episode

Browns 27, Steelers 24 — Week 4: Fifty-Six Yards With Fifteen Left

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What is left, through Week 5

The opponents the Browns have left rate plus 0.004 net expected points added per play between them — offence minus what their defences allow — which is 17th hardest of the 32 schedules that can be rated so far.

Through Week 5 · Data via nflverse · 12 of 12 remaining opponents rated

Cleveland Browns 2026 schedule

Cleveland Browns 2026 regular-season schedule with each opponent's projected strength and the rest days going into the game
Wk	Opponent	Opp Strength (Aug)	Kickoff ET	Rest
1	at Jaguars	—	Sun 1:00p	7
2	at Buccaneers	—	Sun 1:00p	7
3	vs Panthers	—	Sun 1:00p	7
4	vs Steelers	—	Thu 8:15p	4
5	at Jets	—	Sun 1:00p	10 (+3)
6	vs Ravens	10+ win	Sun 1:00p	7
7	at Titans	—	Sun 1:00p	7
8	at Steelers	—	Sun 1:00p	7
9	at Saints	—	Sun 1:00p	7 (-7)
10	vs Texans	Winning	Sun 1:00p	7
11	Bye week
12	vs Raiders	—	Sun 1:00p	14 (+7)
13	vs Bengals	10+ win	Sun 1:00p	7
14	vs Falcons	—	Sun 1:00p	7
15	at Giants	—	Sun 1:00p	7
16	at Ravens	10+ win	Sun 1:00p	7
17	vs Colts	—	Sun 1:00p	7
18	at Bengals	10+ win	Sun 1:00p	7 (-3)

Opponent strength is the opponent's 2026 market win total, bucketed: “10+ win” is a win total of 10.5 or better, “Winning” is 9.5 or better. Rest is days since that team last played, with the edge over the opponent in brackets. Kickoff times are Eastern and highlighted when the game starts at or after 8:00pm — the Browns have 1 primetime game, all at home. The Browns are on bye in week 11.

Toughest stretch

Weeks 16-18: at Ravens, Colts, at Bengals. two of the three are projected winning teams.

Softest stretch

Weeks 3-5: Panthers, Steelers, at Jets. None of the three is a projected winning team.

Primetime: 2026 night games

The Browns play 1 game at or after 8:00pm Eastern, 1 at home and 0 on the road — weeks 4. That is against a league average of 3.4, across 55 night games on the 2026 calendar.

Counts are AS SCHEDULED. Flex scheduling moves games into and out of the evening windows during the season, so an in-season count is only current as of the last time this artifact was regenerated.

Rest: where the Browns sit

Across the 2026 season the Browns break exactly even on rest against their opponents. 2 games come at a rest deficit of three days or more, and 2 come with a three-day edge the other way. Rest is zero-sum across the league — every day one team is rested is a day its opponent was not — so these net out to nothing across all 32 teams.

A rest gap only turns up in the record when it is bye-sized. Across regular-season games since 1999, a team coming off at least seven more days of rest than its opponent has won 53.6 percent (645 games); at a three-to-six day edge the rested team has won 49.6 percent, which is no edge at all. Rest is a margin, not a mover.

How this is measured

Opponent strength here is this season's net expected points added per play — a team's offence minus what its defence allows, through Week 5. The betting market stops quoting win totals once games are played, so the August line below is kept as a labelled prior rather than used as the ranking.

Read the spread before the rank. Across the whole league, hardest schedule to easiest covers about 1.5 win-total points spread over seventeen games — real, but small. Every win total in the market ends in a half-win and every schedule is seventeen games, so two schedules one place apart in the table differ by about 0.06 of a projected win, which is why 24 of the 32 teams share a rank with somebody else. Strength of schedule is a tiebreaker between two teams you already rate evenly. It is not a reason to move one of them.

Browns schedule questions

Do the Browns have a hard schedule in 2026?

By market win totals, it is close to average. The Browns are tied for the 20th-hardest schedule in the league — their 17 opponents average 8.38 projected wins, against a league average of 8.50 — and 5 of those opponents are projected winning teams.

When is the Browns bye week in 2026?

The Browns are on bye in week 11 of the 2026 regular season.

What is the toughest stretch of the Browns 2026 schedule?

Weeks 16 through 18, when the Browns play at Ravens, Colts, at Bengals — two of the three projected winning teams.

How many primetime games do the Browns have in 2026?

One as scheduled — one at home and zero on the road — counting every kickoff at or after 8:00pm Eastern. Flex scheduling can move games into and out of the evening windows.

Where the Browns rank

Cleveland Browns are tied for the 20th-hardest schedule of the 32. The Cardinals have the hardest at 9.32, the Lions the easiest at 7.79. All 32 schedules ranked.

Cleveland Browns podcast and season preview · Browns running back depth chart · All 2026 bye weeks

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