NFL schedule release is here and games are leaking out, plus teams with toughest strength of schedule

If you can't wait until 8 p.m. ET for the schedule release, then you'll want to go ahead and head to our live blog, which will be breaking down every leak and rumor that comes out throughout the day. You can check out the live blog by clicking here.

2. NFL schedule leaks are already happening

After I finish writing this newsletter, I will be spending the rest of the day tracking down scheduling leaks and if you want to follow along with me, you can do that by clicking here, where we have our full list of leaked games.

The leaks generally start off slow every year, but not this year. The leaks started tricking in on Wednesday night and they haven't let up since then. Last year, we saw more than 200 of the NFL's 272 regular-season games leaked before the official schedule was released at 8 p.m. ET.

If you're wondering whether there have been any leaks yet this year, the answer is yes.

Here's a look at a few of the leaks we have so far:

• Week 1 (Sept. 9): Patriots at Seahawks, 8:20 p.m. ET (NBC) -- NFL Opener
• Week 1 (Sept. 13): Bears at Panthers, 1 p.m. ET
• Week 7 (Oct. 22): Patriots at Bears, 8:15 p.m. ET (Amazon) -- TNF
• Week 8 (Nov. 1): Eagles at Commanders, 8:20 p.m. ET (NBC) -- SNF
• Week 10 (Nov. 12): Commanders at Giants, 8:15 p.m. ET (Amazon) -- TNF
• Week 12 (Nov. 26): Chiefs at Bills, 8:20 p.m. ET (NBC) -- Thanksgiving
• Week 12 (Nov. 27): Broncos at Steelers, 3 p.m. ET (Amazon) -- Black Friday
• Week 14 (Dec. 14): Steelers at Jaguars, 8:15 p.m. ET (ESPN) -- MNF
• Week 16 (Dec. 24): Texans at Eagles, 8:15 p.m. ET (Amazon) -- Christmas Eve
• Week 16 (Dec. 25): Packers at Bears -- Christmas
• Week 16 (Dec. 25): Rams at Seahawks -- Christmas

The one thing about leaks is that they're not official, so if you're a Broncos fan who wants to watch your team on Black Friday, you probably shouldn't book a flight to Pittsburgh until the NFL officially announces the game. Once again, if you want to follow the a breakdown of all the leaks, you can do that in our live blog here. However, if you just want a running list of all the leaks, you can see that here.

3. 2026 strength of schedule: 10 most difficult schedules

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The release of the NFL schedule is just hours away and to celebrate that fact, we're going to take a look at the teams with the most difficult strength of schedule heading into 2026. And now, this is the part where I have some bad news for Bears fans: Based on the final standings from 2025, your team will be going into the upcoming season with the toughest strength of schedule.

With that in mind, let's take a look at the 10 most difficult schedules in 2026:

10 most difficult schedules (opponents combined record and winning percentage from 2024)
1. Bears: 158-129-2 (.550)
2. Dolphins: 156-132-1 (.542)
T-3. Cardinals: 155-133-1 (.538)
T-3. Packers: 155-133-1 (.538)
5. Chiefs: 155-134 (.536)
6. Patriots: 153-135-1(.531)
**7. Raiders:**153-136 (.529)
**8. Bills:**152-136-1 (.528)
**9. Chargers:**151-138 (.522)
10. Panthers: 150-138-1(.521)

The Bears should definitely be worried and there's one big reason for that: Not only are they playing the most difficult schedule, but they also have the most difficult "first place" schedule. Since the NFL expanded to 17 games in 2021, the team that has gotten stuck playing the "hardest" first-place schedule has regressed by an average of four games per season. Last year, the team in this spot was the Lions. After going 15-2 in 2024, they had the hardest first-place schedule in 2025 and they dropped to 9-8.

We're using 2021 as the timeline here, because the addition of the 17th game created a more difficult schedule for teams that finished in first place.

I broke down the strength of schedule for every team and if you need time to burn before the schedule comes out tonight, you'll want to be sure to read my full story here.

4. One scheduling wish for every team: Here's what each team should be hoping for

Every year, the NFL allows each team to make scheduling requests for the upcoming season, although there's no guarantee that the league will grant their requests. With that in mind, Bryan DeArdo decided to come up with one scheduling wish for each team.

Let's check out three of his team wishes:

• **Raiders: Home game vs. the Titans after the bye.**This is a very specific ask for a very specific reason. Kirk Cousins will probably begin the season as Las Vegas' QB1, but at some point, fans will inevitably call for Fernando Menzoda. A home game against a weak opponent fresh off a bye week would be the ideal time to make such a change.
• **Panthers: Early games vs. cold-weather road opponents.**The Panthers face one of the league's toughest schedules, partly because of four road games against cold-weather teams, including Green Bay. Carolina would undoubtedly prefer to get these games out of the way earlier in the season (especially Green Bay).
• Colts: More primetime games. After getting just one primetime game in 2025, the Colts should be in line for more marquee time slots in 2026. Indianapolis started 8-3 last year, after all, before Daniel Jones' injury led to a six-game slide to finish the season.

DeArdo came up with one scheduling wish for each team and you can check out his full list here.

5. Netflix signs new deal with the NFL: Here's what to know

The NFL has been playing games on Thanksgiving for more than 100 years, but this season marks the first time that the league scheduled a game to be played the night before Thanksgiving (Nov. 25). This new Thanksgiving Eve tradition will likely be sticking around with Netflix signing a deal to stream the game for the next four seasons (2026-29).

That's one of the biggest parts of the company's new deal with the NFL. Under terms of the new deal, Netflix will get to stream a total of five games in 2026:

Week 1: 49ers vs. Rams in Australia
**Week 12:**Packers at Rams (Thanksgiving Eve)
Week 16: Christmas doubleheader (1 p.m. ET and 4:30 p.m. ET)
**Week 18:**Saturday, 1 p.m. ET

And yes, the Rams are on there twice, so Rams fans will probably want to get a Netflix subscription this year. The teams playing in the other three Netflix games will be revealed when the full schedule comes out on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.

From 2027 through 2029, Netflix will get four games per season and that will look like this:

• Week 1 game
• Thanksgiving Eve
• Christmas (one game)
• Week 18 (one game)

Netflix will also be the new home of NFL Honors, the league's annual awards show that airs on the Thursday before the Super Bowl. We've got the full details on the Netflix deal and you can check them out here.

6. Extra points: De'Von Achane lands monstrous extension from Dolphins

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It's been a busy past few days in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything, I put together a quick roundup for you.

• De'Von Achane signs huge extension with Miami. New Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan said that De'Von Achane was going to be a key part of the team going forward and he just put his money where his mouth is. The Dolphins have signed Achane to a four-year, $68 million extension. At $17 million per year, it makes Achane the third-highest-paid running back in the NFL behind only Saquon Barkley and Christian McCaffrey. Achane was an offensive weapon for the Dolphins last season with more than 1,800 yards from scrimmage.
• Malik Nabers has second surgery. The Giants receiver, who's recovering from a torn ACL, recently underwent a second surgery, according to The Athletic. The second procedure was done to remove some scar tissue, and right now, it's unclear if this will impact his recovery timeline. The Giants will be opening their season with a Sunday night game in Week 1 against the Cowboys. Although Nabers still has about three and a half months to heal before that game, it's definitely not ideal for the Giants to see him go under the knife again.
• Netflix is bring back its "Quarterback" docu-series for another season. "Quarterback" is returning for a third season and Netflix revealed on Wednesday the four players who will be taking part in the series. Jayden Daniels, Baker Mayfield, Cam Ward and Joe Flacco will all be featured in the docu-series, which will be released in July. The series documents what it's like to be  quarterback in the NFL from on-the-field action to off-the-field stuff. All four quarterbacks had a camera crew follow them around for the 2025 season so we'll get an inside look at what their life was like last year. That could be especially interesting for Daniels and Flacco. On Daniels' end, the Commanders QB was injured for a good chunk of the year. As for Flacco, he got traded from Cleveland to Cincinnati in October last season, so we'll see how he and his family dealt with that situation.