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Denver Broncos face toughest strength of schedule in entire NFL

With the finalized NFL schedule being released in a few weeks, let’s take a look at every teams strength of schedule.

NFL: New England Patriots at Denver Broncos Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

The Denver Broncos will not be benefiting from a third place schedule in 2017. According to CBS Sports, they will have the toughest strength of schedule to start the season.

They play eight teams that won 10 or more games. Fully half their season in 2017 will be against playoff caliber opponents. Fortunately, most of those teams will be coming to Mile High. The finalized schedule is expected to be released sometime around the middle of April, so for now we only know the teams home and away opponents.

Home: Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, New England Patriots, New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Cincinnati Bengals

Away: Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, Indianapolis Colts

The good news is that the three teams right behind the Broncos are their three AFC West division rivals. Misery does love company.

2017 NFL Strength of Schedule

Team W L T Pct
Team W L T Pct
Denver 147 107 2 0.578
Kansas City 147 108 1 0.576
Chargers 145 110 1 0.568
Oakland 144 111 1 0.564
Buffalo 143 112 1 0.561
Miami 140 116 0 0.547
Washington 138 116 2 0.543
NY Jets 137 119 0 0.535
NY Giants 135 117 4 0.535
Dallas 134 118 4 0.531
Philadelphia 134 118 4 0.531
New England 135 121 0 0.527
Atlanta 133 122 1 0.521
Tampa Bay 132 123 1 0.518
New Orleans 130 125 1 0.51
Carolina 129 127 0 0.504
Rams 121 130 5 0.482
Green Bay 122 132 2 0.48
Chicago 122 133 1 0.479
San Francisco 119 132 5 0.475
Detroit 119 135 2 0.469
Cleveland 119 135 2 0.469
Arizona 118 135 3 0.467
Baltimore 117 137 2 0.461
Seattle 115 138 3 0.455
Houston 115 138 3 0.455
Minnesota 115 139 2 0.453
Pittsburgh 115 139 2 0.453
Cincinnati 115 141 0 0.449
Jacksonville 111 142 3 0.439
Tennessee 111 142 3 0.439
Indianapolis 107 146 3 0.424

And before you say strength of schedule doesn’t matter, here is a note from CBS Sports that I found really interesting.

In three of the past four seasons, the team with the easiest schedule has gone on to make at least the conference title game.

Could we see the Colts in the AFC Championship game this year?

Thanks to the commenter who pointed out that the Atlanta Falcons had the toughest strength of schedule in 2016, so that could actually work out in the Broncos favor too.