The Denver Broncos finished in a three-way tie with the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks for the best record in the NFL in 2025. Head coach Sean Payton and his team will look to build on that strong season in 2026, but will have their work cut out for them with a difficult schedule.
Colin Cowherd Believes the Broncos are Being Punished with their Schedule
The NFL schedule was released on Thursday night, with each team posting videos to announce its own schedule. While much of the talk has been about what was in each team’s schedule release video, others are focusing on what actually matters for the 2026 season: the details of each team’s schedule.
The Broncos are looking to run things back in 2026 and go deeper in the postseason after they lost their quarterback, Bo Nix, to a fractured ankle at the end of the AFC Divisional Round matchup with the Buffalo Bills.
With Nix back in the fray and the addition of Jaylen Waddle to their wide receiver room, the Broncos are expecting a strong season, but Payton’s team faces a strong schedule in 2026. Colin Cowherd believes the league is punishing the Broncos’ head coach by giving them a tough schedule to start the season.
Payton famously took a shot at his former quarterback, Russell Wilson, and at some opposing coaches, and Cowherd believes this played into Denver’s tough schedule.
“I’m not a conspiracy guy, but I believe this. I think Sean Payton has a mixed relationship with the league office,” Cowherd said. “NFL does not like friendly fire. Zip it. Look at Denver’s schedule, they’re punishing them.”
“I’m not a conspiracy guy, but I believe this. I think Sean Payton has a mixed relationship with the league office…NFL does not like friendly fire. Zip it. Look at Denver’s schedule, they’re punishing them” – Colin Cowherd pic.twitter.com/m9GSIzRKb2
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 15, 2026
Of course, the teams Denver was playing were predetermined and public knowledge. Because they finished first in their division last season, they have a tougher schedule, and they happen to play a difficult division in the NFC West. However, it’s the beginning of the schedule that Cowherd specifically highlights as fishy.
“That’s the toughest six-game schedule I have ever seen in my life, and I’m a geek on this stuff,” Cowherd added.
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Denver starts its season out on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs, then plays at home in Weeks 2 and 3 against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Rams. In Weeks 4 and 5, the Broncos go on the road against the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers, and in Week 6, they will host the Seattle Seahawks.
That six-game stretch features five playoff teams from 2025, and the reigning Super Bowl Champions, with the lone team missing the Postseason in 2025 being their arch-rivals, the Chiefs, who have been a perennial Super Bowl contender throughout Patrick Mahomes’ NFL career.
What makes this most difficult is that Nix could be rusty or not at full strength at the start of the season. The Broncos star ranked as the No. 14 quarterback in PFSN’s Quarterback Impact Metric (QBi) in 2025, completing 63.4 % of his passes for 3,931 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions.
Additionally, what makes Nix most dangerous is his ability to not only beat you with his arms, but also with his legs, totaling 786 yards and nine touchdowns as a rusher through two seasons. It’s unclear if he will be able to run as much coming off the injury, particularly early in the season, when his team is in the midst of the gauntlet of their schedule.
Combine the potential rustiness of Nix with the fact that he needs to get practice time to build chemistry with Waddle in the offense, and it’s easy to see why some Broncos fans may be unhappy with the way the schedule fell.
Denver will look to overcome a difficult schedule to start the season and avenge its loss to New England in the AFC Championship Game, with a hopefully healthy, full season with Nix under center. Nix’s recovery status, combined with Waddle’s arrival, figures to be a major storyline in Denver as the 2026 season approaches.
