Why NFL Snubbed Cleveland Browns With Zero Primetime Games on Schedule

The Cleveland Browns selected former Oregon Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Cleveland is coming off of a season where they went 3-14. The NFL released their full 2025-2026 schedule on Wednesday.

The Browns along with the New Orleans Saints and Tennessee Titans are the only three teams in the NFL that do not have a single primetime game on their 2025-2026 schedules.

Cleveland Browns With Zero Primetime Games In 2025-2026

Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) watches from the sideline during day two of NFL rookie minicamp at the Cleveland Browns training facility on Saturday, May 10, 2025, in Berea, Ohio. | Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Cleveland Browns have zero primetime games scheduled for the 2025-2026 season, the NFL announced when they released their schedule on Wednesday evening. This is the first time the Browns have not got a primetime slot on their entire schedule since the 2017 season. Cleveland had their infamous 0-16 season that year.

The 3 teams with ZERO primetime games this season 😳 pic.twitter.com/o2Xj5GRXrY
— PFF (@PFF) May 15, 2025

This used to be uncommon as the NFL tried to get each team at least one primetime game, despite their record in the previous season or their outlook for the upcoming one. The NFL has shifted away from that, aiming to give their viewers stand-alone games in primetime the best possible matchups. The Browns, Saints, and Titans won a combined 11 wins last season.

The reason for the Browns not having a primetime game is due to their lackluster 2024-2025 season. Cleveland had a handful of primetime games last season because they were fresh off of a 11-win season where they made the playoffs.

All 17 of the Browns scheduled games for the upcoming season are on Sunday, which is another rarity for one team to do due to the NFL playing on seemingly every day of the week at some point in the season now.

However, while it is not in primetime, the Browns do have a standalone game on their schedule. They will be playing the Minnesota Vikings in Week 5 in the NFL London Game. It will kickoff before the rest of the Sunday slate on NFL Network.

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Still Potential For Browns To Play Under the Lights In 2025-2026 Season?

Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski watches quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) participate in drills during day two of NFL rookie minicamp at the Cleveland Browns training facility May 10, 2025, in Berea, Ohio. | Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While it may be unlikely, there is still a way for the Browns to play in primetime this season. As the season progresses, the NFL will “flex” games into primetime. For example, if the scheduled Week 15 Sunday Night Football game between the Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys turned out that both of those teams were eliminated from the playoffs already, the NFL would most likely move that game out of primetime for another game.

That same week, the Browns are scheduled to play the Chicago Bears. If the Browns and Bears each were in the thick of the playoff race, they would be a potential candidate to replace the Vikings and Cowboys for Sunday Night Football.

So as unlikely as it is for the Browns to have such a quick turnaround from the worst record to being flexed into a primetime game, the odds are greater than zero percent.