New Orleans Saints opponents 2026: Who’s on the schedule, how easy or hard will their schedule be

Jan 5, 2026 - 00:00

The New Orleans Saints schedule for the 2026 NFL season is now set.

While we do not know when each game will take place, we do know who they will be playing thanks to how their 2025 season ended. New Orleans began the year with a new head coach in Kellen Moore, and a new quarterback in Spencer Rattler.

While it ended with a new quarterback under center, the Saints may have found something in that player. Rookie quarterback Tyler Shough took over as the team’s starting quarterback midway through the season and likely did enough to keep the starting job heading into next year. Shough led the Saints to four consecutive wins down the stretch, including a pair of wins over the Carolina Panthers who would go on to win the AFC South.

New Orleans finished the season with a 6-11 record.

Here is their list of opponents for the 2026 season.

New Orleans Saints list of opponents

Home opponents

Atlanta Falcons
Carolina Panthers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings
Cleveland Browns
Pittsburgh Steelers
Arizona Cardinals
Las Vegas Raiders

Road opponents

Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Cincinnati Bengals
Detroit Lions
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
New York Giants

New Orleans Saints schedule analysis

The beauty of a fourth-place finish in the NFL?

A fourth-place schedule for the next season.

As things stand the Saints see several teams that finished at the bottom of their respective divisions: The New York Giants, the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Arizona Cardinals. The NFC South also plays the AFC North next year, meaning the Saints will see the Cleveland Browns, the Cincinnati Bengals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Baltimore Ravens.

And the Saints get six games against their NFC South counterparts and, well, we saw how that division fared this season.

On paper, this is a favorable schedule that finished the season trending in the right direction.