Buccaneers Have One of NFL's Best Schedules for This Reason

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, like the rest of the NFL, will reveal their schedule on Thursday at 8 p.m. That reveal will give the exact dates and times for each matchup that Tampa Bay will undergo during the regular season.

The opponents, though, have been revealed for a while. The Buccaneers are set to play the NFC North and the AFC East this year, and they're playing common opponents from the NFC East, NFC West and AFC West — because they finished second, those opponents are the Dallas Cowboys, the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers.

Tampa Bay's strength of schedule, for what that's worth, is very favorable. They have the 21st most difficult schedule in the league by SOS, likely propelled by how weak the rest of the NFC South division is.

But there's one more aspect of their schedule that is very, very good news for Tampa Bay. and it's the amount of time they travel.

Buccaneers don't travel very far in 2026

The Buccaneers had the chance to play an international game against either the Detroit Lions or the Atlanta Falcons, but neither option will occur in 2026 — the Falcons will play the Cincinnati Bengals in Madrid, Spain, and the Lions will play the New England Patriots in London, England. Because the Bucs won't leave the country and will instead play those two teams on the road in their typical stadiums, Tampa Bay has a very favorable travel schedule.

The Buccaneers among the lowest projected air miles in their travel schedule. Sports reporter Bill Speros projects Tampa Bay to fly 12,185 miles in 2026, which is the fourth lowest in the NFL.

With that number, the Bucs will get more time to focus on football and spend less time traveling, which is a boon for any team. They're projected to travel the second-least of any team in the NFC South, as the Panthers have the least amount of projected travel miles in the NFL with just 8,470.

We'll officially know what Tampa Bay's schedule looks like at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, and it's possible that the team see a brutal away stretch or an early bye week that would make the schedule less appealing. But until then, Tampa Bay's schedule looks favorable, and it'll look to take advantage of it as it tries to sit atop the NFC South once again.

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