What to Know About the Dolphins' 2026 Strength of Schedule

Here's the breakdown of where Miami ranks in terms of schedule difficulty right now, but the reality of how things change

Miami Dolphins tight end Julian Hill (89) runs the ball against the Los Angeles Chargers during the fourth quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. | Rich Storry-Imagn Images

The bad news when it comes to the Miami Dolphins' 2026 schedule in what could be a rebuilding or at the very least transitioning year is that it ranks as the second-toughest in the NFL.

The good news is that it's based on the combined winning percentage of every team's opponents in 2025, and just because a team was good this year doesn't mean it'll be good again next season.

The Dolphins' list of opponents for 2026 was finalized with the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday after the L.A. Rams climbed over them in the NFC West standings, making the third-place Dolphins and 49ers the matchup for the "17th game."

The other non-division opponents for the Dolphins next season will be Cincinnati, the L.A. Chargers, Kansas City, Chicago and Detroit at home, and Indianapolis, Denver, Las Vegas, Green Bay and Minnesota on the road.

The Dolphins' SOS in 2026 clearly is affected by being matched up next season with the NFC North, whose four teams finished with a winning record in 2025.

The combined 2025 winning percentage of Miami's opponents came in at .542, and that trails only the Chicago Bears (.550) among all NFL teams, with Cleveland having the easiest schedule based on 2025 records at .429.

Dolphins opponents had a combined record of 156-132-1 in 2025, the one coming from the Green Bay Packers.

THE RECENT SOS EXAMPLES

As it turned out, the 2025 strength of schedule for the Dolphins ended up playing very close to what it showed based on the 2024 standings, but that is not always the case.

The Dolphins' 2025 schedule was tied for 21st-toughest based on the 2024 records (.474 winning percentage) and it ended up being the 22nd-toughest after Miami's opponents combined to go 141-148 for a .488 winning percentage.

But there was a huge difference in 2023.

Huge.

That year, just like now, the Dolphins had the second-toughest schedule in the NFL based on records from the previous years when their non-division matchups included games against every team from the AFC West and the NFC East.

The Dolphins' 2023 opponents had combined to go 160-129 (.554) in 2022, but things played out a whole lot differently as those teams combined for a 130-159 record in 2023, with the Dolphins' .450 opponent winning percentage coming in at 29 among all NFL teams.

The 2023 Dolphins ended up finishing 11-6, the team's highest victory total since 2008.

The bottom line is the strength of schedule based on the previous season records can be tricky because of the parity in the NFL. For example, is it realistic to expect the NFC North to again have four teams with a winning record.