The Philadelphia Eagles, even in their off years, manage to win double-digit games and make the playoffs, but this 'every other year' nature of how things have gone is non sustainable and needs to get figured out.
You get the sense that the 2026 season is going to tell us a lot about the future of this team, one way or another. It'll be a year with yet another new offensive coordinator, and it could be the first year without AJ Brown in the picture if a trade does go down.
Despite having a 'first place schedule,' the Eagles do have some key advantages on it to take note of.
The Philadelphia Eagles have some obvious 2026 schedule advantages that could lead to sucess
At home against the toughest teams
Some of the Eagles toughest games of the 2026 season are, luckily, at home:
Week 4 vs. Los Angeles Rams
Week 5 vs. Jacksonville Jaguars (London)
Week 15 vs. Seattle Seahawks
Week 16 vs. Houston Texans
The Week 5 game is a bit of a wild card, but the game isn't in Jacksonville, which should be an advantage. It's a game in London where the Eagles are the designated home team, but given how tough the Jags were in 2025, this is much better than the alternative of the game being in Florida.
The other games on this list feature three other Super Bowl-caliber teams in Week 4, 15, and 16. We did see Philly beat the Rams at home in 2025, but it was far from an easy win. Games against Seattle and Houston see the Eagles welcoming two of the top defenses in the NFL to the Linc.
The Eagles won't be able to lose all four of these games - Philly is likely having to beat at least two of the four opponents above. Losing to the Jaguars could be doable, as a potential head-to-head tiebreaker over Seattle or Los Angeles could come into play.
Given that the Eagles' home crowd is one of the best in all of sports, Philly should be able to hang with Los Angeles, Seattle, and Houston.
A Week 10 bye
Other teams across the NFL have a Week 10 bye, so this isn't Philly alone, but it's an advantage nonetheless: the Eagles won't have to deal with a long stretch of potentially playing double-digit games without a break.
The Eagles will play nine games, have a bye in Week 10, and then play eight games to end the season. This is about as good as it gets in the NFL and will allow the team to get adequate rest between the first and second half of the 2026 campaign.
This may not stick out as the biggest advantage, but as you'll see in our last point, small advantages can make a huge difference.
Easiest schedule in the NFC East
The Eagles' schedule for the 2026 season is actually the 10th-easiest in the NFL, and the 4th-easiest in the NFC. Their NFC East foes all have tougher schedules for 2026:
Philadelphia Eagles: .481 (opponents' 2025 winning percentage)
Dallas Cowboys: .493
New York Giants: .498
Washington Commanders: .502
Sure, this isn't some crazy difference, but it's a key one and an advantage the Eagles have in their schedule. If this were flipped, and Philly had the toughest schedule in the NFC East and one of the toughest in the conference, we'd be hearing about it.
Read more: Eagles' latest predictions would be a regression for 2026 (but there's a catch)
With how competitive the entire league is and how many competent teams are present in the NFC right now, the entire playoff seeding for 2026 could end up coming down to a game here or there. Philly getting the easiest slate does boost their chances of another division title.
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