There was a time when the NFL schedule release elicited just a cursory glance from fans, who would wait until football season to get too invested. In today’s day and age, almost every fanbase has a gripe about how the NFL has handed their team a bum hand on the schedule.
However, it’s important to remember that on any given Sunday, the competitive balance of the NFL can change dramatically. Parity reigns supreme in the NFL, but that’s cold comfort to Broncos fans who felt the league schedule-makers made a gauntlet out of their team’s first eight games.
Questions about whether the league has it in for Broncos head coach Sean Payton have only been intensified by FOX Sports radio host Colin Cowherd, who took to the airwaves on Friday spouting some wild-eyed conspiracy theories.
“Now it’s interesting. Who are they punishing— and I believe this. I’m not a conspiracy guy, but I believe this. I think Sean Payton has a mixed relationship with the league office. He’s taken shots at quarterbacks, Russell Wilson, he’s taken shots at coaches. [The] NFL does not like friendly fire. Zip it,” Cowherd said.
“Look at Denver’s schedule. They’re punishing them. The first six games—that’s the toughest six-game schedule I have ever seen in my life, and I’m a geek on this stuff. I am a nerd on schedules. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“I’m not a conspiracy guy, but I believe this. I think Sean Payton has a mixed relationship with the league office…NFL does not like friendly fire. Zip it. Look at Denver’s schedule, they’re punishing them” – Colin Cowherd pic.twitter.com/m9GSIzRKb2
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 15, 2026
Payton vs. the NFL
Payton’s ability to shake up the NFL establishment has been a Machiavellian art, one which the 62-year-old has used as part of his coaching arsenal from time to time. Prodding at the rules and officiating is one thing, but the Broncos moving into the upper echelon of the elite teams means they’ve got a first-place schedule and a target painted squarely on their backs. That’s a far more believable explanation for Denver’s schedule than the NFL trying to punish Payton.
Of course, Cowherd is quite friendly with Payton, as the two spent the 2022 NFL season as colleagues at FOX Sports. It’s as if Cowherd is suggesting that the NFL has been waiting all this time to levy its retribution for “bountygate.” We’re talking about a controversy that is now a decade and a half old, and transgressions Payton committed during his tenure with the New Orleans Saints.
There’s no evidence that the NFL is trying to punish the Broncos because of Payton, but the first six-game stretch on the 2026 schedule is brutal all the same.
“At Chiefs, Jags, Rams, at Niners, at Chargers, Seahawks. They could have thrown an Arizona game in there, a Panthers game in there. They could have thrown that Steeler game in there, a Raider game in there. Nope,” Cowherd said. “Front-heavy with Bo Nix coming off a surgery. Again, I’m not a conspiracy guy, but I think Sean Payton has irked a few people. He’s been outspoken.”
The notion that the Broncos have been set up to fail by the NFL schedule-makers is for losers to indulge. The truth is, structuring an 18-week schedule with 17 games comes with a plethora of challenges for the league, and while people can complain about the order in which the NFL laid out the Broncos’ schedule, they earned this slate of opponents by winning 14 games last season.
The Silver Lining
Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton talks with quarterback Bo Nix (10) during the second half at Empower Field at Mile High. | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
While there’s little doubt that the opening six-game run will separate the men from the boys, Payton and the Broncos are savvy enough to understand that they can still find their feet if they do stumble to start off the new season.
The schedule opens up dramatically from Week 9 until Week 16, which will offer the Broncos a golden opportunity to balance the standings if they struggle somewhat over the first six-to-eight weeks.
It gets tough again to close the season, with a home game vs. the Bills on Christmas, a trip to Foxboro to face the Patriots, and a home stand vs. the Chargers in the finale, but if the Broncos play their cards right entering that three-game closer, all of their goals will likely still be on the table.
The Takeaway
Payton’s hope of leading his team to a faster start this season will be tough to achieve, but not because of an NFL conspiracy, as Cowherd suggested. When you post the best record in the conference the year prior, drawing a first-place schedule is the fate that awaits any team on the other side of the offseason.
At least the Chiefs, Chargers, and Raiders also have to face the AFC East and NFC West this season. The AFC West drew five playoff opponents from last year in those two divisions, which should level the playing field somewhat for the Broncos.
The rest is up to Payton, Nix, and the team.
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