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Strength of schedule

Chargers saddled with tough early-season schedule

It’s always nice to get off to a fast start in a fantasy league. Begin the season 3-1, and you’re in driver’s seat for a playoff spot. So when looking at schedules, it can pay off to look at who’s on the slate in September.

If you want to use wins and losses, the Steelers and Colts project to have the easiest schedules in their first five games. With contests against Cleveland, Jacksonville and Chicago, Pittsburgh’s first five are against teams that went a combined 23-57-0 last year. No playoff teams in those first five.

The Colts see the Rams, Browns and 49ers in their first three weeks of the season.

The Bears and Chargers, meanwhile, have the hardest schedules in their first five games.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE, WINS (games 1-5)
TeamWLTPct
Pittsburgh23570.288
Indianapolis24542.313
Seattle33470.413
NY Jets33470.413
Baltimore33461.419
Miami35450.438
Cincinnati35450.438
San Francisco35432.450
Washington37430.463
Buffalo37421.469
Cleveland38411.481
Carolina39410.488
Minnesota39410.488
Atlanta39410.488
Arizona39410.488
Oakland39401.494
Dallas41381.519
LA Rams41372.525
Jacksonville42380.525
New England43370.538
NY Giants43370.538
Detroit43361.544
Kansas City43361.544
Philadelphia43352.550
Green Bay43352.550
Tennessee44351.556
Houston44351.556
Tampa Bay46340.575
New Orleans47330.588
Denver48320.600
Chicago49310.613
LA Chargers49310.613

For those more interested in power of defenses, we can look instead at how many points those opponents have tended to allow. By that measure, the Dolphins project to play the easiest early-season schedule, with their first five games against teams allowing an average of 25.4 points last year.

The Seahawks, Jets and Colts are also up there – high on both charts, in fact.

The Chargers also have the hardest schedule when it’s looked at this way. Their first five games are against defenses that allowed an average of 20 points last year – Broncos, Dolphins, Kansas City, Philadelphia and the Giants. It doesn’t get much easier after that, with the next three against Oakland, New England and Denver again.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE, POINTS (games 1-5)
TeamPoints
Miami25.4
Seattle25.4
NY Jets24.9
Indianapolis24.8
Carolina24.0
Minnesota23.8
Atlanta23.8
Washington23.8
Pittsburgh23.5
Baltimore23.5
Cincinnati23.3
Arizona23.3
New England23.3
LA Rams23.2
San Francisco23.0
Buffalo22.9
Chicago22.5
Oakland22.4
NY Giants22.3
Tennessee22.3
Denver22.2
Cleveland22.1
Philadelphia22.0
Jacksonville22.0
Detroit22.0
Dallas21.6
Green Bay21.5
Kansas City21.4
New Orleans21.2
Houston20.7
Tampa Bay20.3
LA Chargers20.0

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index