Best bets for new NFL playoff teams following 2026 schedule release

Drake Maye and the Patriots are the reigning AFC champs, and the Bengals could be in line to have a big year in 2026. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster You can count on three things in life: Death, taxes and turnover among the year-to-year NFL playoff field. Sure, well-run organizations, like the Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills, Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers are usually among the 14-team postseason field. But there have been at least four non-playoff teams from the previous season that have reached the postseason field in 36 straight seasons. With that in mind, and after the NFL schedule was released last week, here are some intriguing playoff-related bets to consider for the 2026 football season. These four teams would see their postseason fates flip, including the Patriots, who won the AFC in 2025. The past two Super Bowl runners-up have missed the postseason the following year. The Commanders are poised to bounce back if QB Jayden Daniels is healthy. The Cowboys are a good value play after missing the playoffs two straight years. Determining which team will fall out of the field seems harder to project than which clubs will leap into the postseason. Injuries are typically the main culprit. Oddsmakers have deemed the Bears (+108 to make the playoffs at FanDuel), Steelers (+180 odds at FanDuel) and Panthers (+225 at BetMGM) as the three most likely candidates to miss after reaching the playoff field in 2025. Best NFL playoff bets to make for the 2026 season This could be it for the Cincinnati core, since head coach Zac Taylor likely needs to make the playoffs to retain his job. Trade rumors swirled around quarterback Joe Burrow at the end of last season. They are sure to get louder if Cincinnati has another playoff-empty season after falling outside the AFC field in three straight years. There is great value in betting on Cincinnati to miss again, but it is more likely to turn things around in 2026. The AFC North is loaded with uncertainty to the point that Taylor is the division’s only returning coach. Plus, the Bengals are still loaded offensively if Burrow is healthy. They went 5-3 in games started by Burrow in 2025, and Cincinnati was 1-8 otherwise. Cincinnati will play four of its first six games on the road, and it will do well if it can weather that stretch. Three of those games will be against 2025 playoff competition. The Cowboys had a great offense and a dreadful defense in 2025 and dug themselves into a 3-5-1 hole before going 4-4 in their final eight games. Christian Parker, the new Cowboys defensive coordinator and former Eagles DBs coach, is likely to coach Dallas up. The Cowboys will have a full season of DL Quinnen Williams, and they spent their first two draft selections on defensive players, including safety Caleb Downs. Plus, Dallas still has an elite offense with the two-headed wide receiver monster of George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb. It added WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling and retained running back Javonte Williams. Getting even money on a team as talented as Dallas to make the playoffs feels like a steal, especially since the Cowboys will play four of their first five games against teams that missed the playoffs last season. There has been a dark cloud over 1 Patriot Place since New England won the AFC in Denver in January. The Seahawks showed the NFL the blueprint to beating the Patriots in Super Bowl 60, and New England will have a first-place schedule after going 14-3 and taking the AFC’s No. 1 seed. New England is destined to start 0-1 after it opens the season against the champion Seahawks in Week 1 in Seattle, and could open 1-3. The Patriots return home to face Pittsburgh and then have road games at Buffalo and Jacksonville. The Pats have four games against the woeful Jets and Dolphins, plus a Week 5 home game against the Raiders. They are also the favorites to land WR A.J. Brown in a trade with the Eagles. Plus, coach Mike Vrabel comes from the Bill Belichick school, so it wouldn’t be beyond him to lead a burn-the-boats-style revenge season. But at this value, betting the Pats to fall out of the playoff field is well worth a small stake.