The 2026 NFL regular season schedule was released this week, and analysts immediately began picking it apart.
Which teams got the best draws? The best travel routes? The most rest time between games?
Rest disparity is a real thing. According to Sharp Football, there were 61 games played where one team had three or more days of rest advantage last season, the fourth-most in NFL history. This year, there are 69 such games, the most games in any NFL season in history.
The Los Angeles Chargers will be getting the least time to kick back. Their opponents have a collective 24 rest-day advantage on them this season. The Chicago Bears, conversely, hold a 15-day advantage.
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â Arif Hasan, but NFL đ (@ArifHasanNFL) May 15, 2026
The New York Giants are right in the middle with a plus-3 day advantage. Sharp contends that the league does not seem to care about some teams getting more rest than others.
The reason the schedule is more unfair in these regards is because the NFL has doubled down on two key beliefs, as expressed in public statements after announcing the schedule:
And we’ve seen that. Five teams (Tennessee, Arizona, Las Vegas, the Jets, and Miami) do not have a primetime game, while the Los Angeles Rams, the early Super Bowl favorites, will play on prime time seven times.
The Giants have four prime-time games this season, and will also play three teams fresh off an international trip.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: New York Giants have a positive rest differential in 2026