Browns 2026 schedule: Cleveland sees 3 big benefits as international games unveiled

A military airplane flies over Paul Brown Stadium before kickoff of a Week 12 NFL football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021, at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Bengals won, 41-10. Pittsburgh Steelers At Cincinnati Bengals Nov 28

As we noted in DBN's Feed in the last couple of days, the Cleveland Browns will not be traveling internationally this year. In 2025, the early trip to London, England, put a huge wrinkle in the Browns schedule when they decided not to take their bye week after it.

With the release of the international games for 2026, Cleveland will see a few huge benefits that, hopefully, it can take advantage of. A fourth would be added if the Browns are able to face one of the teams traveling overseas days after that travel, as the Pittsburgh Steelers did from Cleveland last year.

The first benefit is obvious: there is no international game for the orange and brown this year. No huge changes to the preparation schedule or long flights to tire them out.

Second, the Browns are the only AFC North team not to have an international game:

• Ravens head to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, on September 27th
• Steelers head to Paris, France, on October 25th
• Bengals head to Madrid, Spain, on November 8th

Third, Cleveland will travel the second fewest miles of any team in the NFL this year:

BREAKING: The 32 NFL teams travel 628,873 miles this season. That equals 25.2 trips around the circumference of the Earth, or 2.63 times the distance to the Moon.

Six teams will travel more than the distance around the earth the equator - 24,901 miles.

Story In Comments pic.twitter.com/0rTexrWD8n

- Bill Speros (@billsperos) May 13, 2026

In fact, the Browns will only have two games outside of the Eastern time zone, with games against the Tennessee Titans (barely outside of the Eastern zone) and the New Orleans Saints.

With what is considered an easy schedule overall, the lack of an international game, and all of the divisional opponents having to travel, Cleveland has a chance to make progress this year.

How much do you think these things will benefit the Browns this year? Do you think there will be an actual win/loss impact?

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