2022 NFL Strength of Schedule

• Look back at 2022 NFL strength of schedule rankings
• The Chiefs had the toughest schedule in the 2022 NFL season, while the Eagles had the easiest
• Looking for current NFL strength of schedule rankings?

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The league released its full 2022 NFL schedule on Thursday, May 13, but NFL win totals opened back in late March of 2022. Below is the NFL SOS for every team using our proprietary calculation.

Note: 1 is the most difficult, while 32 is the easiest 2022 schedule.

2022 NFL Strength of Schedule Rankings

Using 2022 NFL win totals, I came up with my own NFL Strength of Schedule by adding the projected wins (from sportsbooks) of each team’s 17 opponents this season.

The range in my NFL Strength of Schedule rankings is from 137, on the easy end, to 156, on the tough end. The median sum of 2022 opponents’ win totals is 144.8, while the average (mode) is 145.3.

The main flaw I ran into this season is sportsbooks not releasing a win total for the Cleveland Browns for quite some time, due to the uncertainty of Deshaun Watson being suspended by the league at the time—he was suspended for 11 games. I used the 2022 Super Bowl odds and NFL divisional odds to find similar teams and then use their win totals to set one for the Browns.

If you bet the …

• 3 teams with the easiest schedules to go over on their respective win totals, you would have gone 2-1
• 3 teams with the toughest schedules to go under on their respective win totals, you would have gone 1-2

Toughest 2022 NFL Schedule

• Kansas City Chiefs

For a second straight year, it was a team from the AFC West that had the toughest schedule. It was the Raiders last year, but is now the Chiefs in 2022. This is largely due to huge offseason moves made by the other teams in their division, as the Chargers added Khalil Mack and JC Jackson to their defense, the Broncos acquired Russell Wilson, and the Raiders brought in Davante Adams.

Our official 2022 lineup. pic.twitter.com/YllgSBvoRD

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) May 13, 2022

Between the Chargers and Broncos, that’s four games Kansas City has on their schedule against believed-to-be 10-win teams, according to NFL win totals. The AFC West also draws the NFC West this season, meaning the Chiefs will see the defending Super Bowl champion LA Rams (10.5 win total), San Francisco 49ers (10), Arizona Cardinals (9), and Seattle Seahawks (6.5). The latter does not have the same sting without Wilson, but the other three will be very tough.

Then add in their games against the other AFC division-winners from last season—AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, and Tennessee Titans, who they would have seen anyways with the AFC West drawing the AFC South this year—and their add-in game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and this is one grueling schedule ahead for Kansas City.

For context on just how tough it is, last year’s most difficult schedule belonged to the Raiders, whose opponents’ combined win totals equaled 153.5. The Chiefs’ equals 156 this year. The year prior, which was a season that only included 16 games instead of 17, only saw 136 projected wins of opponents.

If you want to look at that in terms of winning percentage of Kansas City’s opponents, the Chiefs would be playing opponents who are projected to go 156-133 for a 0.540 projected winning percentage.

The next two toughest 2022 NFL schedules are the Pittsburgh Steelers (154.5) and Los Angeles Rams (153.5).

The Chiefs aren’t the only AFC West team facing a tough schedule, though. The Las Vegas Raiders have the fourth-toughest schedule and the LA Chargers have the ninth-toughest. The Denver Broncos have the easiest schedule among AFC West teams, ranking 14th.

It should also be noted that even with the Chiefs facing the toughest schedule, they still ranked sixth in our NFL Power Rankings.

Easiest 2022 NFL Schedule

• Philadelphia Eagles

The easiest schedule in the 2022 NFL season belongs to the Philadelphia Eagles, whose opponents only combine for 137 projected wins, according to NFL win totals at sportsbooks. This means Philadelphia’s opponents project to post a 0.474 winning percentage this season.

Not only will they benefit from two believed-to-be weak teams in the NFC East—NY Giants, seven projected wins, and Washington Commanders, 7.5 projected wins—but also get some weaker teams in their division’s matchups with the NFC North and AFC South.

Preseason grind 💪@Hyundai | #FlyEaglesFly

Schedule Release | 8 PM | @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/hHHCKDX9lA

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) May 13, 2022

They will see the Lions, Bears, Vikings, Texans, and Jaguars, among others, from those divisions, and also benefit from the second-place teams in the NFC South and West not being overly strong—Saints and Cardinals. Their add-in game from the AFC also pits them up against the Steelers, who will be a very different team with Mitchell Trubisky, or more likely Kenny Pickett, under center.

The Eagles are not the only NFC East team benefiting from their division’s matchups, though. The New York Giants have the second-easiest 2022 schedule, while the Washington Commanders have the fifth-easiest. The Dallas Cowboys have the toughest schedule among NFC East teams, but that’s still the tenth-easiest schedule in the NFL.

The team with the easiest schedule who does not reside in the NFC East is the Indianapolis Colts, who face the league’s third-easiest schedule in 2022.