{"id":139904,"date":"2023-04-11T14:00:45","date_gmt":"2023-04-11T18:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=139904"},"modified":"2023-04-10T18:49:08","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T22:49:08","slug":"easiest-hardest-projected-strength-of-schedules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/04\/11\/easiest-hardest-projected-strength-of-schedules\/","title":{"rendered":"The 6 Easiest, Hardest Projected Strength of Schedules"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>DraftKings recently released their <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/03\/29\/over-under-afc-west-projected-win-totals\/\" target=\"_self\">projected win totals<\/a> for the 2023 NFL season, and Sam Hoppen of <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6j2oD34P97\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Betsperts<\/a> used the data to determine the implied strength of schedule for each NFL team. As expected, the last year&#8217;s first-place teams have a harder road than last-place teams, but some divisions are going to go through the gauntlet in 2023.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">With DraftKings releasing NFL win totals today, I took a look at each team&#39;s strength of schedule based on these implied win percentages.<\/p>\n<p>The Patriots, Bills, and Chiefs have the toughest schedules while the non-Bucs NFC South teams have the easiest schedules. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/99xw5Okl6E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/99xw5Okl6E<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Sam Hoppen (@SamHoppen) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SamHoppen\/status\/1639718103025106944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 25, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>The 6 Hardest, Easiest Strength of Schedules In 2023<\/h2>\n<h3>The Hard Ones<\/h3>\n<h4>New England Patriots<\/h4>\n<p>If the projected strength of schedule is accurate, the New England Patriots are going to be in for a rough time in 2023. Going from Matt Patricia to Bill O&#8217;Brien is a massive upgrade, but the rest of the roster didn&#8217;t improve too dramatically in the past few months. Seven of New England&#8217;s eight wins last year came against backup quarterbacks, or quarterbacks that would later be benched, and they can&#8217;t bet on having that type of luck for a second consecutive season. Unless they knock it out of the park in the NFL Draft, they&#8217;re probably looking at another season without a playoff appearance.<\/p>\n<h4>Buffalo Bills<\/h4>\n<p>The Bills have a much harder schedule this time around, but it&#8217;s hard to bet against Josh Allen. Assuming <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/04\/02\/stefon-diggs-trade-twitter\/\" target=\"_self\">Stefon Diggs stays in Buffalo<\/a> (and he should) this offense will remain as dangerous as ever<\/p>\n<h4>Kansas City Chiefs<\/h4>\n<p>See above. If you\u2019re betting against the Kansas City Chiefs, you\u2019re going to lose money. Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid are the 2020\u2019s version of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, and they\u2019ve yet to win fewer than 12 games since Mahomes took over. Last year, they lost Tyreek Hill and still won the Super Bowl, so while this is a difficult schedule, they should be up for the challenge.<\/p>\n<h4>Las Vegas Raiders<\/h4>\n<p>Poor Raiders fans. After making the playoffs in 2021, Josh McDaniels has done his part to prove that his first head coaching stint wasn\u2019t an accident. McDaniels is a good offensive mind, but it takes more than that to be a reliable head coach. Going from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/03\/13\/jimmy-garoppolo-signs-contract-with-las-vegas-raiders\/\" target=\"_self\">Derek Carr to Jimmy Garoppolo<\/a> is a massive downgrade, and the team didn\u2019t do enough in free agency to offset that loss. If Mark Davis can <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/11\/16\/raiders-too-cash-poor-to-fire-head-coach-josh-mcdaniels\/amp\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">afford to fire him<\/a>, McDaniels will probably be gone before the end of the season.<\/p>\n<h4>Miami Dolphins<\/h4>\n<p>It\u2019s impossible to predict the success of the 2023 Miami Dolphins without knowing the health of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. While he\u2019s no superstar, he is good enough to get the most out of this stacked roster. Assuming he can stay healthy, the Dolphins should push for a Wild Card birth, even with this difficult schedule.<\/p>\n<h4>Baltimore Ravens<\/h4>\n<p>For the time being, we\u2019re going to assume that <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/03\/31\/three-sleeper-trade-destinations-for-lamar-jackson\/\" target=\"_self\">Lamar Jackson sticks around<\/a> for the 2023 season. Jackson is easily the best quarterback option the Ravens have, but even with him under center, this team is going to struggle to find the playoffs against the schedule. Baltimore has not addressed a single one of their team needs in free agency, and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/03\/25\/what-nelson-agholor-brings-to-baltimore-ravens\/\" target=\"_self\">Nelson Agholor<\/a> isn\u2019t going to fix anything.<\/p>\n<h3>The Easy Ones<\/h3>\n<h4>New Orleans Saints<\/h4>\n<p>The 2023 New Orleans Saints will look a lot different than their 2022 counterparts, as they have a new quarterback and lost multiple starters along the defensive line. While they probably won\u2019t be real contenders, they should be <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/03\/29\/over-under-on-nfc-south-projected-win-totals\/\" target=\"_self\">NFC South favorites<\/a> and could end up with double-digits wins against this easy schedule.<\/p>\n<h4>Atlanta Falcons<\/h4>\n<p>Desmond Ridder may or may not be the future of this organization, but he\u2019ll have an easy path to prove his case this year. As someone that is firmly anti-Ridder, the easy schedule probably won\u2019t matter unless the Falcons add a better quarterback in the NFL Draft.<\/p>\n<h4>Carolina Panthers<\/h4>\n<p>Adjusting to life in the NFL is never easy, but at least this schedule will make the task less daunting for whoever the Panthers select with the first-overall pick. Carolina went 6-6 when Matt Rhule wasn\u2019t running the show, so this team isn\u2019t as far away as some believe. If Carolina\u2019s rookie quarterback hits the ground running, they could challenge the Saints for the division.<\/p>\n<h4>Indianapolis Colts<\/h4>\n<p>Much like the Atlanta Falcons, the Indianapolis Colts have too many holes on their roster for a weak schedule to mean much of anything. However, it is a good sign for whichever rookie quarterback ends up joining the team.<\/p>\n<h4>Jacksonville Jaguars<\/h4>\n<p>Trevor Lawrence is on the path to being an elite quarterback, and Trent Baalke has built a competent roster in Jacksonville for the first time since 2017. This team was going to be dangerous no matter what, but with this schedule, they could make a push for the first-overall seed in the AFC.<\/p>\n<h4>Tennessee Titans<\/h4>\n<p>The Tennessee Titans have officially missed their championship window, and the team seems to know it. The Titans have parted ways with multiple veterans and are reportedly shopping Derrick Henry, so they probably won\u2019t compete for the playoffs, even with a weak schedule. The best thing they could do might be to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/04\/03\/trey-lance-trade-destinations\/\" target=\"_self\">trade for Trey Lance<\/a> and see if the former third-overall pick can play.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DraftKings recently released their projected win totals for the 2023 NFL season, and we can use that data to determine strength of schedules.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":139905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,27,3,30,12,13,16,17,4,5,28,11],"tags":[7811,7661,7638,7659],"class_list":["post-139904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ravens","category-falcons","category-bills","category-panthers","category-colts","category-jaguars","category-chiefs","category-raiders","category-dolphins","category-patriots","category-saints","category-titans","tag-chiefs-featured","tag-panthers-featured","tag-ravens-featured","tag-saints-featured"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}