NFL 2024 Schedule: Opener Set; Strength Ranked Team-By-Team

By Bill Speros May 13th, 2024 1:53 PM EDT

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The NFL releases its full schedule Wednesday night at 8. But we already know which teams have the strongest schedule and which ones have the weakest. 

The NFL season opens on the night of Thursday. September 5 when the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs play host to the Baltimore Ravens in a rematch of the AFC Championship game. 

The Chiefs beat the Ravens in the AFC title game this past January. NFL futures odds have the Chiefs as favorites to three-peat as Super Bowl champs. The Chiefs are 3-point favorites in the season-opener and the total is 49.5 points at DraftKings. 

RELATED: Super Bowl 59 Odds

The “home” Philadelphia Eagles and “visiting” Green Bay Packers will play on Friday, September 6 in Sao Paolo, Brazil. That will be the first NFL game played in the Southern Hemisphere. The Eagles are 1.5-point favorites on a total of 48.5 points. 

Super Bowl 59 will be played in New Orleans on February 9, 2025. Kickoff is set for 6:28 p.m. EDT on Fox.

Each team’s opponents were determined once the regular season was complete in January.  Since we know each team’s opponents for the upcoming season, we’re able to decide on the 2024 strength of schedule based on last year’s final record of each team’s opponents. 

Here is the rundown of all 32 NFL teams, based on their opponent’s 2023-24 record. 

Toughest and Weakest NFL Team Schedules 

The Cleveland Browns have the NFL's toughest schedule this upcoming season. Their opponents had a combined winning percentage of .547 last season. The Browns reached the postseason in January before getting smoked by the Houston Texans 45-14 in the Wild-Card Round. 

The AFC North is matched up against the AFC West and NFC East this season in terms of its inter- and intradivisional matchups. Their 17^th game is against the NFC South. That means games the Browns will be facing the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles and Chiefs, in addition to the Miami Dolphins, outside the division. All those teams made the playoffs last season, as did AFC North foes home-and-away Pittsburgh and Baltimore. 

The Browns seek to a full healthy season from QB Deshaun Watson. Last year, Watson underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in November. He only made six starts last season, coming off his NFL suspension. The Browns expect him to be ready for Week 1. 

The NFC South remains the league’s softest division, at least when it comes to strength of schedule. The Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints are tied for the weakest schedule this season, with their opponents having a combined .453 winning percentage. 

Four of the five softest schedules in the NFL belong to the NFC South teams. 

The NFC South is matched up with the AFC East and AFC West this year in terms of its inter- and interdivisional matchups. Its 17^th game will be played against the AFC North, as noted above. 

How The NFL Schedule Is Determined

The current NFL scheduling formula was first implemented in 2002 and the 17^th regular-season game was added in 2021.

Here are the factors used in determining each team’s schedule. 

• 3 home and 3 away games each division opponents 
• 4 games from another division within its conference on a rotating, three-year cycle 
• 4 games from a division in the other conference on a rotating, four-year cycle 
• 2 intraconference games based on the previous year’s standings. These games match a first-place team against the first-place teams in the two same-conference divisions the team is not scheduled to play that season. The second-place, third-place, and fourth-place teams in a conference are matched the same way each year.
• 1 interconference game based on the prior year’s standings on a rotating 4-year cycle. These games match a first-place team from one division against a first-place team in an opposite-conference division that the team is not scheduled to play that season. The second-place, third-place, and fourth-place teams in each division are matched in the same way each year. The home conference for this game will rotate.

Here is how the schedule rotation by division falls this season. 

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About the Author

Bill Speros

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Bill Speros is an award-winning journalist and editor whose career includes stops at USA Today Sports Network / Golfweek, Cox Media, ESPN, Orlando Sentinel and Denver Post.