The Baltimore Ravens led the NFL in regular-season wins in 2019 with 14, and already they appear to have a path to repeating that feat.
Baltimore will head into the 2020 season with the easiest strength of schedule in the league based on opponent winning percentage. Its 2020 opponents combined for 112 wins in 2019, good for only .437 percent. To boot, it will face only five teams that reached the playoffs in 2019, one of only 12 teams to enjoy that distinction.
In addition to their usual six games against division-rivals Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, the Ravens and star quarterback Lamar Jackson will play teams from the NFC East and AFC South, setting up potentially juicy non-division matchups against the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, plus games against fellow 2019 division winners New England and Kansas City.
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With similar schedules, Baltimore’s rivals in the AFC North also rank among the top 10 easiest schedules, as do the NFC East teams, which will face the NFC West in addition to the AFC North. That could spell soft landings for the NFC East’s new crop of head coaches -- Mike McCarthy in Dallas, Ron Rivera in Washington and Joe Judge with the New York Giants. Rivera will have a “revenge game” of sorts against his former team, the Panthers, in Washington.
On the other end of the spectrum, the AFC East teams are looking at tough sledding next season, with the Patriots (.535) and Jets (.531) facing the stiffest competition in the NFL. Among their non-division opponents will be the AFC West and NFC West, so there will be plenty of cross-country travel for teams in all three divisions.
To that end, NFC West teams are also facing a difficult, travel-heavy schedule. Those squads will play the AFC East and NFC East, accounting for five games each in the eastern time zone. Additionally, the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals will have seven games against playoff teams.
See below for our full strength-of-schedule rankings based on opponent winning percentage, from easiest to most difficult:
1. Baltimore Ravens (.437)
2. Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers (.457)
4. Cleveland Browns, Washington Redskins (.460)
6. Cincinnati Bengals (.476)
7. New York Giants (.480)
8. Philadelphia Eagles (.484)
9. New Orleans Saints (.488)
10. Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Chargers (.492)
12. Carolina Panthers, Indianapolis Colts, Las Vegas Raiders, Tennessee Titans (.496)
16. Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (.500)
19. Chicago Bears, Seattle Seahawks (.503)
21. Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Rams, Minnesota Vikings (.511)
24. Houston Texans (.515)
25. Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers (.523)
30. Miami Dolphins (.527)
31. New York Jets (.531)
32. New England Patriots (.535)
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