The 49ers Have the Easiest NFL Strength of Schedule, See Who Has the Toughest Here
By Matt McEwan in NFL Football
Published:
The NFL has just released their full 2025-26 schedule and it feels like Christmas morning. While we still have a few more months to wait before we even get preseason football, it’s never too early to get excited about football. With tons of intrigue around the schedule release, I have gone ahead and calculated NFL strength of schedule for all 32 teams.
You can click that link above to see the full NFL SOS picture, or read on about the 49ers’ easy schedule and see which team has the toughest schedule ahead.
NFL’s Easiest Schedule Belongs to the 49ers
After losing Deebo Samuel, Jordan Mason, Aaron Banks, Charvarius Ward, Dre Greenlaw, Javon Hargrave, and Talanoa Hufanga (among others) this offseason, this year’s San Francisco 49ers roster may not be the most talent-filled group they have fielded over their six-year run of (mostly) solid regular season performances. But it may not need to be thanks to their easy 2025 NFL schedule. San Francisco faces the easiest schedule among all 32 teams for the upcoming 2025-26 season. This is a result of the 49ers not only finishing fourth (last) in the NFC West last year, awarding them three games against other last-placed teams from last year, but also the NFC West matching up against two pretty weak divisions this season: the AFC South and NFC South.
The result is San Francisco playing no teams whose respective NFL win total over/unders are above 9.5. This means they dodge all of the Ravens, Bills, Bengals, Lions, Chiefs, and Eagles in the regular season. They only have four games against teams whose over/unders are higher than 8.5, and play five games against teams whose projected win totals are 6.5 or less.
San Francisco 49ers Schedule
The 49ers will open the season on the road in Seattle. If there is anything for San Francisco to complain about with this schedule, it’s the fact that they open the season with six of their first nine games on the road.
Check out the full NFL schedule release!
Can the 49ers Take Advantage of 2025 Schedule?
This information is significant for anyone looking to bet NFL futures this season, and it’s worth noting we have recently seen the 49ers in this position before. San Francisco went just 6-10 in the 2020 season, the result of Jimmy Garoppolo getting injured and forcing Nick Mullens to start eight games under center, and finished last in the NFC West.
The next year, they found themselves in the same position as this season, possessing 2021’s easiest NFL strength of schedule, and they took full advantage. San Francisco would go 10-7, which was only good for third in the division, but would go on a run in the playoffs, making it to the NFC Championship and losing by a field goal to the eventual-Super Bowl champion LA Rams.
They did all that with Jimmy Garoppolo under center and Elijah Mitchell serving as their lead back. While they won’t have Samuel on this year’s team, who played a major role on that 2021 team, I do believe Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey, assuming he’s healthy, are major upgrades.
Here’s a quick look at some of San Francisco’s futures from bet365:
- Win total = 10.5
- Divisional odds = +145 (favorites)
- Conference odds = +700 (3rd-best)
- Super Bowl odds = +1600 (6th-best)
New York Giants Have Toughest 2025 NFL Schedule
The Giants’ recent struggles haven’t been rewarded the same way San Francisco’s have, as they face what’s expected to be the league’s toughest schedule in the 2025-26 NFL season. After only winning more than six games once in the last eight seasons, it’s not going to get any easier for the G-Men this year.
New York resides in a pretty tough NFC East, which also houses the NFC and NFL-champion Eagles as well as the NFC-runner up Commanders. The third team is the Cowboys, who are coming off their own struggles last year after Dak Prescott missed more than half of the season. Those are going to be six tough games. But you could argue things get tougher for New York when they leave their division, as they see the AFC West and NFC North. Plus, their fourth-placed schedule earns them a date with the 49ers in Week 9.
Here’s a quick look at the New York Giants’ 2025-26 NFL schedule:
Based on the brutally-tough first 12 weeks, I would expect Giants fans might get their first glimpse of Jaxson Dart after their Week 14 bye.
Editor-in-Chief; Sports Betting Expert
With nearly a decade working in the industry, Matt is a seasoned sports betting veteran. He got his start with SBD in 2016 and worked his way up the ladder to become the Editor-in-Chief. Along the way he has done everything from reviewing sportsbooks to creating proprietary sports betting tools.
