The NFL released its annual schedule yesterday, something you couldn't possibly have missed. I don't think it's something you should overrate in fantasy drafts. We have a good idea of which defenses will be good and which won't be, but can't say for certain that what seems like a "bad" matchup in April will actually be bad.

There are some things we can look at and say, though. Here are 10 of them.

  1. Early byes. The Patriots and Titans get Week 4 byes, the Dolphins-Panthers-Vikings and Jets Week 5. This is only meaningful to me in the sense that I am a little inclined to steer away from kickers and sometimes defenses with early byes, because I don't want to have to drop someone to cover a bye week that early on. Too soon to drop sleepers and handcuffs. Stephen Gostkowski is the top kicker but he probably won't be on any of my teams.

  2. Late byes. Thankfully the league has ditched the Week 12 bye that claimed Seattle and Carolina last week, forcing owners with Wilson, Newton, Lynch or Olsen to scramble for a replacement during their final fantasy playoff push. But there's still Week 11, where the Browns, Saints, Giants and Steelers are off. I'm not dropping someone like Odell Beckham Jr. or LeVeon Bell based on this, just mentioning it in passing.

  3. Some strength of schedule guesses, albeit based on the risky projections that the defenses we expect to be good will be good and bad will be bad. The Colts open against what figure to be a pair of strong defenses, the Bills and the Jets. But then they get a nice stretch of their three divisional foes, the Patriots and the Saints, all of whom their offense should be quite productive against. Look at the Giants: in their first 11 games, they play at most two games against what look like good defenses. Buffalo should be tough, but San Francisco might not be. And the rest of their slate in those first three months looks very soft.

  1. The Packers will figure high on everyone's fantasy boards, but they've got a mildly worrisome schedule, with the NFC West (which should feature at least 3 really good defenses) and AFC West (maybe 3). These concerns apply to the Lions, Vikings and Bears, too, and we knew this before the schedule was released. But Green Bay will play seven of its first eight games against West division foes and Carolina. It's the second half of the schedule that looks nicer, against divisional opponents and Oakland (although they're at Arizona in Week 16). Reason to drop Packers in the rankings? Maybe worth thinking about, anyway.

  2. I like Blake Bortles, but the schedule does a developing youngster few favors. He'll start off against the Panthers, Dolphins and Patriots. After a softer three-game stretch, he'll face the Bills, Jets and Ravens. Ugly.

  3. The Eagles have a lot of primetime games, but the actual slate of games (which includes mostly soft NFC South defenses) doesn't look horrible.

  4. The Ravens open with five of their first seven games on the road, including trips to Denver, Pittsburgh, Arizona and (maybe not so bad) San Francisco. Still, it's not a great start for a team that will likely be breaking in some new receivers. The Rams also look like they have a rough schedule, with their own division and the AFC North.

  5. Tampa Bay seems very likely to start a rookie quarterback, and he'll open with a nice stretch: Titans, Saints, Texans, Panthers, Jaguars, Washington, Falcons. Carolina might have a good defense, the rest probably not. Not that you'll want to pounce on Jameis Winston in drafts, but VJax and Evans might be fine.

  6. Intriguing Week 15-16 schedules: Vikings (Bears, Giants), Jaguars (except they're the Jaguars, but Falcons and Saints), Texans (Colts, Titans), Panthers (Giants, Falcons).

  7. Troubling Week 15-16 schedules: Cowboys (Jets, Bills), Browns (Seahawks, Kansas City, plus they're the Browns), Ravens (Kansas City, Pittsburgh).