NFL schedule makers stick it to the Commanders (and others)

Well, the NFL schedule makers have done it again.

With the release of the 2026 regular season schedule ongoing throughout the day, I was given another surprise this offseason. The Washington Commanders are going to London, England, in Week 4 and will be the host team against the Indianapolis Colts. That much we knew by Wednesday. But, imagine my surprise when the Week 5 bye week was announced! Oh, no, it actually was not announced for Week 5. Week 5 was announced as a home game on the following Sunday against NFC East rival, the New York Giants.

In recent years we heard the NFL representatives express to the teams something like, "Oh, nothing to worry about. After you play the International game, we understand your body clocks will be quite disoriented and you will be spending all of Monday traveling back to your US city, so tell you what, each team playing an International game one week, we will then reward that team with a bye week the following week.'

Only problem is when the NFL promises such things, is what they mean by "allegedly' is "until we are not making that promise any longer." That's right, the NFL is no longer making that same promise to NFL teams. NFL teams playing an international game are no longer guaranteed the bye week the following week.

Consequently, the Commanders will be playing the New York Giants in Week 5. The bye week will not occur for the Commanders until after they next travel to San Francisco in Week 6 for a Monday night game. Then they get their bye week in Week 7.

So the NFL schedule makers are continuing to stick it to the players? Can they schedule Thursday road games wherever they want? They can schedule you to play against a team that the previous week had a rested bye week? They can schedule you to play on a Wednesday, a Thursday, or a Friday?

With the NFL continuing to increase the number of international games, it has become increasingly difficult to give teams the bye week they used to be rewarded with the following week. But why should it surprise us? Isn't it simply another move by the NFL that moves it further away from scheduling integrity?

NFL owners apparently continue to care less and less for their players. Teams are having to play on extremely short work weeks, allowing NFL players little time for their bodies to recover. NFL owners don't care about rest periods being comparable anymore? They certainly don't mind scheduling teams to play where one team had a bye week and the other did not.

And now this development. Another former scheduling policy was removed from the NFL modus operandi. Owners continue to make more money, now from increasing the number of international games, while players get the rest their bodies need, taken away from them? The NFL owners now refer to this as an 'option' rather than the previous requirement?

Nine international games this season is an NFL high. Oh, it is just too difficult to reward teams with their customary bye week now. Well, of course it is, the owners continue to line their pockets while giving the fans and players less and less.

This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: 2026 NFL schedule: Schedule makers stick it to the Commanders