The Cleveland Browns will release their schedule for the 2020 NFL season at 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday night.
But while it may not yet be public what the Browns' schedule will look like, they already know who they'll be playing and where.
Every year, each team's NFL schedule is based on a combination of its division, the previous year's results and a predetermined rotation inter-division matchups. As is the case every season, six of Cleveland's games will come against its three rivals in the AFC North (the Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens), with those games split evenly between opponents and home and away. Meanwhile, teams in the AFC North are matched up with the AFC South and NFC East for the 2020 season. Finally, as the third-place finisher in its division last season, Cleveland will face the 2019 third-place teams from the AFC East and AFC West this coming season.
Locations for inter-division games are based on a rotation from previous schedules. As a result, the Browns' opponents for the 2020 season (in no particular order) will be as follows:
Home
- Baltimore Ravens
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- Houston Texans
- Indianapolis Colts
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Washington Redskins
- Las Vegas Raiders
Away
- Baltimore Ravens
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Tennessee Titans
- Dallas Cowboys
- New York Giants
- New York Jets
With a road game scheduled against the Dallas Cowboys, the possibility exists that the Browns could find themselves playing on Thanksgiving. Cleveland hasn't participated in a Thanksgiving game since the Browns faced the Detroit Lions in 1989.