The NFL schedule comes out tonight, which gives us something to talk about over the next two weeks until the NFL Draft. It's a dubious blessing, but it's better than nothing.

ESPN will be airing the schedule release show, and without looking it up, NFL Network probably is, too. The most important thing to the talking heads will be when the Super Bowl rematch occurs, and when Tom Brady squares off with Aaron Rodgers and whatnot, but there are other things for fantasy coaches to look for. Here are five of them.

1. Fast start potential. Things change a lot from year to year, but there's a good chance many of the defenses that were softest last year will be soft again this year. The Falcons, Cowboys and Bears couldn't stop the run last season, and although they might be better (those teams knew they needed to address that in the offseason), it's tough to change all that overnight. Running backs with early games against those teams become more appealing if you're looking to get a jump on the schedule. The Cowboys, Vikings and Raiders also figure to have some problems in the secondary, so quarterbacks matching up with those guys early on have some added appeal.

2. Defense wins championships? We can't be certain who the starting quarterbacks will be next year for the Texans, Raiders, Vikings, Browns, and Jaguars. All of those teams are definitely in the mix to draft a top rookie passer, mostly because their current projected starters are suspect veterans. So something to file away is which teams get to face those teams late in the year, so you can spot start a defense that might be catching passes from Matt Cassel, Matt Schaub, or a green rookie who's been thrown into the lineup to get his feet wet. OK, thinking about fantasy defenses in April might be a little crazy, but it's better than reading yet another debate on Johnny Manziel.

3. Dome cooking. Weather affects NFL offenses; passing games and kickers. Not that you won't find games where Tom Brady throws a bunch of touchdowns in the snow, but I'd much rather he and Stephen Gostkowski be playing in Miami or a dome in December than up in Foxborough or Buffalo. Would much rather see Aaron Rodgers playing at Minnesota or Detroit in Week 16 than Chicago or Lambeau Field, too. Just something to look at.

4. NFL Primetime. Some people like having players in the Monday night games, or the Thursday night games, or even the Sunday night games. Some people don't. We've looked into this before and can't find any really compelling evidence that these games are significantly higher or lower-scoring. Personally I like to avoid having players on short turnaround times, usually because of the uncertainty of injury statuses. Same deal with Monday; don't want to be counting on a questionable player who doesn't go until Monday. I don't know that it will affect my drafting too much, but I do look at which teams have the most or least primetime games.

5. Goodbye or bad bye? I like midseason byes, say Weeks 7-9. Early byes are terrible, and late byes aren't much better. With early byes, I'll totally avoid those kickers and downgrade those defenses, since I don't want to have to make changes there or use an extra roster spot early in the season. With late byes, I'll at least think about it -- last year four teams were off in Week 12, which is a rough week to be without one of your star players.

And if none of this stuff interests you in late April, which I understand, don't bother with the schedule release show. You can read about it online for the next couple of weeks.