The 2026 NFL schedule will be released Thursday night (8 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN App), and for only the second time, the regular season will start on a Wednesday.
The Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks will open the season Sept. 9 against an unannounced opponent. Since 2004, 21 defending champs have played in the opener and they have gone 16-5, including the Philadelphia Eagles‘ 24-20 win against the Dallas Cowboys to start the 2025 season, according to ESPN Research.
The season is starting midweek to accommodate the first regular-season game in Melbourne, Australia. The Los Angeles Rams will play the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday, Sept. 10, at 8:35 p.m. ET for U.S. audiences. Melbourne is 14 hours ahead of New York and 17 hours ahead of Los Angeles and San Francisco, meaning the game will kick off at 10:35 a.m. local time the next day in Australia. The NFL will play a record nine international games in 2026 across four continents and seven countries. Another one will be the Cincinnati Bengals vs. the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, Nov. 8, which is Week 9.
All NINE international games in 2026 🌎🌍🌏
NFL Schedule Release – Thursday 8pm ET on ESPN/NFLN pic.twitter.com/XS1mNSsXGd
— NFL (@NFL) May 13, 2026
The last time the NFL season started on a Wednesday was in 2012 to accommodate then-President Barack Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention the following day.
The first “Sunday Night Football” matchup was announced Monday as coach John Harbaugh will make his New York Giants debut against the Cowboys. In another NFC East rivalry game, Dallas will host the Eagles on Thanksgiving.
The Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs will face off Sept. 14 in the first “Monday Night Football” game, as it was announced Tuesday morning. The site of the game will be known when the NFL unveils the complete schedule.
NFL Nation reporters will provide a bold prediction for every team following Thursday’s schedule release, and those will be in this file, along with analysis for each team and links to see the full schedule. In the meantime, here are links to every team page and depth chart.
Jump to a division:
NFC East | NFC North | NFC South | NFC West
AFC East | AFC North | AFC South | AFC West
NFC EAST
NFC NORTH
NFC SOUTH
NFC WEST
AFC EAST
AFC NORTH
AFC SOUTH
AFC WEST
