Texans May Have a Tough Schedule, But Here's What Really Matters

The Houston Texans are facing one of the hardest schedules in the NFL next season.

According to strength of schedule based on initial win-loss totals entering the year, the Texans are faced with the seventh-toughest slate of games in the entire league.

Here’s every team’s 2026 NFL strength of schedule based on current projected win totals.

This is a much better way to view strength of schedule because it actually takes offseason moves and roster changes into account.

The #Lions have the “easiest” schedule, while the… pic.twitter.com/T4St8a7nGh
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) May 12, 2026

It's not as rough as some teams like the Arizona Cardinals have it, who find themselves dead last in the NFL for the toughest projected schedule with a gauntlet of challenging contests across the year. Though it might not be a walk in the park for the Texans to achieve their high aspirations in 2026.

But outside of the Texans’ actual strength of schedule, that'll pose a challenge for this team's ultimate success this season. Another factor that might play against Houston and their slate of games for the coming year might be their expected air miles traveled.

Simply put, the Texans are going to be traveling a lot this next season.

Texans Among Top 3 Air Miles Traveled in NFL

Based on data from Bill Speros from Bookies.com, the Texans are projected to be traveling a whopping 28,470 miles this next season through their nine scheduled road games. That ranks top three in the NFL.

Air miles each team will travel this season, via @billsperos: pic.twitter.com/oxd4dja4tD
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 13, 2026

The only other teams to rank ahead of the Texans are two on the West Coast— the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams— both of which are slated to take extensive international flights to Australia for Week 1 of the regular season, each ranking with over 30,000 miles to be flown.

But the Texans aren't falling too far behind at a little over 28,000. Which, which, while it might be a minor aspect of the overall scheduling picture, doesn't quite pan out in their favor to be stuck in the air longer than nearly 30 other teams.

Where the Texans' Miles Stem From

Like the 49ers and Rams, a lot of the Texans' total can be summed up to their own international flight over to London against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 6, which comes out to be a trip logging an impressive number of over 8,000 combined miles alone when factoring in flights both there and back.

But the Texans will be stretching across the country to a few other places that span pretty far from home.

Jan 4, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) looks up at the scoreboard during the first half against the Indianapolis Colts at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Houston's only game on the West Coast will come against the Los Angeles Chargers in SoFi Stadium. Yet on the other side of the country, there's a few matchups like the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns will be racking up the miles as well.

Not to mention, a trip up north to face the Green Bay Packers will total upwards of 2,000 miles both there and back, setting up for a pretty expansive tour across the country for the Texans to take on this coming season.

The good thing for the Texans, though, is that they've made a bundle of necessary tweaks to their roster that sets things up, at least on paper, to be a bit more well-rounded and potent from last year's group.

Time will tell how that offseason work develops on the field. But in proving themselves as a top contender within the AFC, they'll be doing a lot of traveling in the process.

Sign up for our free Houston Texans On SI newsletter, and get breaking Texans news delivered to your inbox daily!

Add us as a preferred source on Google