The NFL is an interesting place when the league calendar hits May.
Free agency has come and gone, for the most part, with a handful of teams celebrated for “winning the offseason” spending spree.
The draft is complete, a three-day exercise in which every one of the league’s 32 teams selects the exact player they want at exactly the right spot to maximize value.
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Voluntary minicamps are crawling along, bringing proclamations about how incredible certain veterans look, which starting jobs are sewn up, and which are in jeopardy.
One of the bigger news items to drop during the month is the annual schedule release, which is another example of why the NFL is king. Teams and their fans have known for months who will be on the season schedule, but it is still fun to learn the various particulars of the schedule.
When is the home opener? How many times is my favorite team on primetime? What about international games? Or the big rivalry game?
As it relates to the Browns, in addition to the annual home-and-home series with the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, and Pittsburgh Steelers, the 2026 slate is:
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Home: Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, and Las Vegas Raiders.
Road: Jacksonville Jaguars, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans, New York Giants, and New York Jets.
The NFL is expected to release the schedule sometime around May 12, so while waiting to learn the dates and times, let’s look at the five games we are anticipating for the Browns this fall.
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At Tampa Bay: This will be the second time the Browns have faced old friend Baker Mayfield since trading him to the Carolina Panthers in 2022. That year, Cleveland won the season opener against the Panthers on a Cade York field goal with 13 seconds remaining. This Tampa team is better than that Carolina team, and the Browns have not beaten the Buccaneers on the road since 1989.
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Home against Atlanta: Speaking of old friends in new places, the Browns will welcome back Kevin Stefanski, who is now the head coach in Atlanta after leading the Browns to two playoff appearances in six seasons. The last time the Browns faced a former head coach was in 2012, when they defeated the Kansas City Chiefs and head coach Romeo Crennell in a Week 14 game.
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Home against Pittsburgh: This might be a bit of a lazy choice, but the Browns and the Steelers are the AFC’s oldest rivalry, and any game in Cleveland still has a little bit of an extra charge to it. And a win this year would give the Browns five in a row at home against the Steelers, the longest streak since they won seven in a row in the 1980s.
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Home against Houston: A meeting between what should be two of the league’s best defenses, with both teams having question marks about the quarterback position. (Although the Texans are still in a better position than the Browns.) Cleveland will be looking to run its regular-season winning streak against Houston to five games.
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Tie between Baltimore and Cincinnati: Because Myles Garrett sacking Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow never gets old, and it will be fun to see what head coach Todd Monken can cook up against a Baltimore defense that he practiced against for the past three seasons as offensive coordinator of the Ravens.
There you have it, our list of the top five (plus one) we are looking forward to this fall. Now it is your turn. Let us know which games are high on your must-watch list and why in the comments!
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