It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the NFL wanted to make Klint Kubiak’s first year as hard as they could
The Las Vegas Raiders have one of the hardest schedules in the NFL, but that’s not always a bad thing.
When all of the schedules were released on Thursday, it became very clear that the Las Vegas Raiders had one of the hardest ones.
Just from a quick glance, without even looking at home or away games and the trips they are set to make, you could tell it’s a tough one, solely from the teams they play. Of course, it doesn’t help that they are in the AFC West, which is maybe the deepest division in football. It became increasingly clear the more you looked at the schedule, that the NFL was not going to go easy on Klint Kubiak in his first season.
According to Pro Football Network, the Raiders have the seventh-hardest schedule in the NFL. This is just below teams like the Arizona Cardinals, Miami Dolphins, LA Rams, Seattle Seahawks, LA Chargers, and Dallas Cowboys.
So, they have the second-hardest schedule in the AFC West, with the Chargers having the fifth-hardest in the league—the Kansas City Chiefs the tenth, and the Denver Broncos the 21st.
Raiders have a few different strings of hard games on their schedule
The middle of this schedule is brutal. Between Weeks 4 and 15, we are talking about all teams that made the playoffs and even made runs, outside of two of those teams, the Jets and Browns. Well, then, of course, the Chiefs, who didn’t make the playoffs but are still the same team that’s won three Super Bowls this decade.
Raiders’ 2026 Schedule
- Week 1: vs. Miami Dolphins
- Week 2: at Los Angeles Chargers
- Week 3: at New Orleans Saints
- Week 4: vs. Kansas City Chiefs
- Week 5: at New England Patriots
- Week 6: vs. Buffalo Bills
- Week 7: vs. Los Angeles Rams
- Week 8: @New York Jets
- Week 9: at San Francisco 49ers
- Week 10: vs. Seattle Seahawks
- Week 11: at Denver Broncos
- Week 12: at Cleveland Browns
- Week 13: BYE WEEK
- Week 14: vs. Los Angeles Chargers
- Week 15: vs. Denver Broncos
- Week 16: vs. Tennessee Titans
- Week 17: at Arizona Cardinals
- Week 18: at Kansas City Chiefs
The Raiders go from Week 4 playing the Chiefs, to then the Patriots, Bills, Rams, Jets, 49ers, Seahawks, Broncos, Browns, Chargers, and Broncos again. That streak is absolutely brutal. And, sure, they are at home for some of those games, but let’s be honest: They don’t have a huge home-field advantage, and most of the games have the same amount of traveling fans.
So, even though the Raiders are getting breaks from traveling during these games, the advantage still isn’t huge. This is all great, though. The Raiders will really find out who they are, and playing the best will only make them better. If you ask me, Kubiak is probably excited about this schedule.