Just like the rest of the NFL, teams in the AFC North learned Thursday which teams they will face in the regular season. Now that we have the concrete info and that we know who is playing whom and when, we have new data to analyze and projections to run. In terms of the AFC North, here are the four biggest takeaways.
How the 2026 NFL Schedule Release Impacts Fantasy Football
How the Baltimore Ravens’ 2026 Schedule Impacts Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry
The Ravens don’t have a player who could be considered a league-wide WR1, but their two-headed monster of Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry is enough to keep opposing defenses honest. However, there are different scenarios when comparing their star players ahead of the 2026 season from a fantasy football schedule perspective.
Jackson should be one of the best quarterbacks in fantasy once again due to his ability as a dual threat, racking up 349 rushing yards, 2,549 passing yards, and 23 total touchdowns in 13 games. He’ll have the luxury of facing three of the five defenses that allowed the most points to QBs in fantasy in 2025 in the Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Tennessee Titans. The Ravens will also face the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills, two elite defensive units last season, but overall, Baltimore’s schedule should be considered favorable when it comes to projecting their offensive pieces.
As for Derrick Henry, the star running back had 1,595 rushing yards and 16 scores last season, and he should be one of the first RBs off the board in most drafts. However, the schedule matches him up against some of the best run defenses when considering the 2025 numbers.
Baltimore will face the Jacksonville Jaguars (second-fewest fantasy points to RBs in 2025), Pittsburgh Steelers (fifth-fewest), Los Angeles Chargers (sixth-fewest), and Texans (eighth-fewest). That shouldn’t force you to exercise any caution regarding Henry’s workload or ADP, but the schedule on paper just doesn’t look kind to him.
Why Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase Should Thrive With the Cincinnati Bengals’ 2026 Schedule
If the Ravens have an elite QB-RB combo in Jackson and Henry, the same could be said about the Bengals and their star duo of quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase. Chase is widely seen as one of the top players in fantasy in 2026 regardless of the format, and there should be plenty of drafts in which he’ll go off the board as the first overall pick (practice on our FREE Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator if you’re picking early and want to get a feel for the options). But does the Bengals’ schedule impact the way we can see Burrow, Chase, and other Cincinnati fantasy assets heading into 2026?
Burrow will face three of the five worst defenses against quarterbacks in fantasy in 2025 in the Washington Commanders, Buccaneers, and Titans, as well as Cincinnati’s division rival, the Steelers. Each of those four teams allowed over 18.5 fantasy points per game to opposing QBs in 2025, setting up several favorable matchups for the star quarterback.
That should directly benefit a high-end wideout like Chase, who ranked third in the NFL in catches (125) and fourth in receiving yards (1,412) despite finding the end zone just eight times. Chase will face five of the worst eight teams defending wideouts in fantasy in 2025: the Titans, Commanders, Indianapolis Colts, Ravens, and Steelers, all ranked from fourth to eighth in that order. Each team allowed over 22 fantasy points per game to wideouts in the 2025 season.
How the 2026 Fantasy Football Schedule Affects the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers
From a fantasy perspective, the drop-off between the two top teams in the AFC North (Ravens and Bengals) and the two worst (Cleveland Browns and Steelers) is massive. That doesn’t mean the Steelers or the Browns are the worst teams in the division from a win-loss perspective, but let’s face it: neither has the dynamic fantasy assets we can find in Baltimore or Cincinnati.
If we take it a step further, it’s hard to find a reliable fantasy alternative on either team due to their quarterback situations, as well as the lack of high-end talent at other skill positions.
Unless the Steelers and Browns find reliable, long-term solutions at quarterback, they’ll continue to have underwhelming offenses, and thus, be subpar options from a fantasy perspective. At least the Browns can find some comfort in the fact that they’ll have the easiest schedule in the NFL in 2026 since their opponents will have a combined winning percentage of .429 during the 2025 season. But it’s hard to see them taking advantage of that from a fantasy perspective.
