NFL Strength of Schedule

I always find NFL strength of schedule analysis to be a bit overrated because it is based solely on last year's winning percentages and does not account for the changes made since via free agency and the draft. Nor does it account for injuries. Case in point: does anyone think the Patriots will be worse this year than they were last year when Tom Brady essentially missed the entire season? Nevertheless, looking at the strength of schedule can give one an approximate idea of how soft or hard a given team's schedule is at a glance. It's entertaining and good water cooler fodder. To that end, here is a look at this year's strength of schedule ranked from toughest to easiest:

(Note: click on the image to see a larger version of the table)

In terms of its usefulness for fantasy football purposes, the strength of schedule purely based on winning percentages from last year has a limited application. It is far better to analyze how opposing defenses fared against the run and against the pass and then break those stats down further into yardage and touchdowns to determine how that translates into points in your league's particular scoring system. Even then, the schedule analysis must be tempered by the fact that it's still just last year's stats and many things can change from year to year. In that context it is interesting data to have, yet it should not be a primary determining factor in doing your player rankings. It is most useful when deciding between two players at the same position with similar values. Using the strength of each player's schedule can act as a tie-breaking factor in these cases.

FantasyFootballChamps.com has a great series on S.O.S. that takes this fantasy perspective. I would encourage FFChamps subscribers to have a look if they find this sort of thing interesting and helpful.