2026 strength of schedule · DST
Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, New Orleans and Pittsburgh have the easiest 2026 defense / special teams schedule at 5 out of 5, and Dallas, Minnesota and New York (NFC) have the toughest at 1.
All 32 teams below, easiest schedule first. FantasyPros publishes defenses depth separately, so this page carries the rating alone.
Easiest first
| # | Team | Rating | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baltimore | Easiest | |
| 2 | Cleveland | Easiest | |
| 3 | Detroit | Easiest | |
| 4 | Indianapolis | Easiest | |
| 5 | New Orleans | Easiest | |
| 6 | Pittsburgh | Easiest | |
| 7 | Atlanta | Easy | |
| 8 | Cincinnati | Easy | |
| 9 | Denver | Easy | |
| 10 | Las Vegas | Easy | |
| 11 | New York (AFC) | Easy | |
| 12 | Tampa Bay | Easy | |
| 13 | Buffalo | Average | |
| 14 | Carolina | Average | |
| 15 | Jacksonville | Average | |
| 16 | Kansas City | Average | |
| 17 | Los Angeles (AFC) | Average | |
| 18 | Miami | Average | |
| 19 | New England | Average | |
| 20 | San Francisco | Average | |
| 21 | Arizona | Tough | |
| 22 | Chicago | Tough | |
| 23 | Green Bay | Tough | |
| 24 | Houston | Tough | |
| 25 | Los Angeles (NFC) | Tough | |
| 26 | Seattle | Tough | |
| 27 | Tennessee | Tough | |
| 28 | Washington | Tough | |
| 29 | Dallas | Toughest | |
| 30 | Minnesota | Toughest | |
| 31 | New York (NFC) | Toughest | |
| 32 | Philadelphia | Not rated |
Other positions
Detroit, Minnesota and Philadelphia have the easiest 2026 quarterback schedule at 5 out of 5, and Las Vegas and San Francisco have the toughest at 1.
Detroit and Los Angeles (NFC) have the easiest 2026 running back schedule at 5 out of 5, and Carolina has the toughest at 1.
Green Bay and Minnesota have the easiest 2026 wide receiver schedule at 5 out of 5, and Los Angeles (NFC) has the toughest at 1.
Miami has the easiest 2026 tight end schedule at 5 out of 5, and Washington has the toughest at 1.
Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington have the easiest 2026 kicker schedule at 5 out of 5, and Denver, Las Vegas and New England have the toughest at 1.
All 32 teams and all six positions in one filterable table.
Asked & answered
Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, New Orleans and Pittsburgh have the easiest 2026 defense / special teams schedule at 5 out of 5, and Dallas, Minnesota and New York (NFC) have the toughest at 1.
Less than you would like it to. Schedule is a rating of a team's opponents across a full season, and opponents change: a defense that ranked near the bottom last year can be league average by October. Treat it as the reason to break a tie between two defenses you rate the same, not as the reason to move one over a player you rate higher.
The scale runs 1 to 5 across all 32 teams. 1 is the toughest full-season slate for defenses and 5 is the easiest. On this page 6 teams hold a 5, 6 teams hold a 4, 8 teams hold a 3, 8 teams hold a 2, 3 teams hold a 1.
FantasyPros publishes defenses depth as a separate export we do not hold, so this page shows the schedule rating alone. We would rather show one column short than fill it with a depth chart we did not get from the same source as the rating.
Strength-of-schedule ratings from FantasyPros. Snapshot taken 2026-09-01 from FantasyPros. Team names are cities only. gamedai is an independent analytics platform and is not affiliated with the National Football League.
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