In the NFL, some teams will have easier schedules, others will have more difficult ones. It is the nature of the beast, and no schedule is the same as another team’s. With the schedules for each team being available for about a month now, there has been ample time to digest what each team’s upcoming season will look like.
Who has a gauntlet of a schedule? In the AFC East, it is not the new division-winning New England Patriots, as one may expect. However, they have a hard stretch in the schedule.
There will be a build to that stretch, though. Let's start at the easiest segment and work toward the most difficult one.
Power-ranking the toughest stretches for each AFC East team ahead of 2026
4. New York Jets Weeks 10-14
The 4-game stretch of home for Buffalo, going to the Los Angeles Chargers, heading to Miami and hosting the Denver Broncos is a tough task for the Jets. Yes, New York added plenty of playmakers this offseason, but three of these teams made the playoffs in 2025, and two of them won at least one game in the tournament.
One saving grace the Jets have after the cross-country road games with Los Angeles and the division rival Dolphins is that they have a bye week. After the off week is a date with Denver, which figures to be the hardest game of this stretch, but at least it is a home game.
The best shot at a win comes in that matchup in Miami. Having the Dolphins in a rebuilding year does not make the game an easy win by any means, but it would be the game the Jets are most likely to win if they took down any team in this segment of its schedule. Honestly, it could be any even game with New York going across the country in the prior game.
Although the Dolphins are a division rival, their inclusion in this stretch means the Jets have the easiest, hardest 4-game stretch for the entire AFC East division.
3. New England Patriots Weeks 1-4
Heading into Seattle on banner night, hosting the new-look Pittsburgh Steelers, going into Jacksonville in September, and a date at the Buffalo Bills is a rough look for the AFC Champions from 2025. All of these games are winnable, but none of them will be a walk in the park.
A great boost for the Patriots is that the Pittsburgh game will be on a long week of rest since the 2026 campaign kicks off on a Wednesday. Given a lack of tape on all the new playmakers the Steelers have with Aaron Rodgers, an extra few days could be incredibly beneficial.
All four of these games are against playoff teams from last season, but only two of them won a game. So it is not an insurmountable stretch by any means. Three of those games being on the road, however, is a harsh outlook for the early portion of the schedule.
2. Buffalo Bills Weeks 13-16
Going into New England, then into Green Bay, hosting the Chicago Bears on a short week, and ending the stretch in Denver, also on a short week, is a brutal 4-game segment for Buffalo toward the end of the season. With every game in this portion coming against playoff teams from the 2025 season, it is a rough patch.
What makes things worse for the Bills is that three out of the four games listed are on the road. One helpful bit is that the matchup against the Patriots comes on a long week of rest.
If you wanted to add a Thanksgiving night cap against the Kansas City Chiefs and remove the Christmas day meeting with Denver, that would be completely understandable, depending on how one feels about either team. Both games come on a short week, although the Thanksgiving one is a couple of days shorter.
1. Miami Dolphins Weeks 15-18
Coming in with the hardest stretch in the AFC East is the Miami Dolphins. In reality, it is a brutal 6-game stretch to end the season.
Going to Green Bay in December, hosting a Chargers squad that should be in full playoff push mode, hosting the Bills, and going to the Patriots in January sounds horrifying for a rebuilding Dolphins team. For a warm-weather squad to go into a pair of potentially snowy atmospheres is not something that many players are likely looking forward to.
However, Malik Willis will have a revenge game narrative to maybe help fuel the Dolphins against the Packers. That said, that is not the entire stretch.
In Week 13, Miami goes into Denver, which is another game that could feature snow. Then they play host to the Bears. All in all, Miami finishes the season against six consecutive playoff teams from the 2025 season.
The schedule makers clearly did not do the Dolphins any favors. The hope would be that Miami has competent outings in most, if not all, of these games to have some kind of momentum heading into the offseason. The back third of this team’s season is absolutely brutal.