A Soft Matchup Means Something Different at Every Position

A soft matchup is not one size. The gap between the friendliest and the toughest defense is wider in points at wide receiver than anywhere else, but it is by far the biggest relative to the position at tight end. Reading a schedule rating without knowing that treats a small edge and a huge one as the same thing.

Here is the spread in the 2026 defense-vs-position figures through the first four games of the season, built from nflverse play-by-play and participation data. Each number is the PPR fantasy points a defense allowed per game to a position, and these are position-wide totals, not what any one player scored.

The gap and the median are our arithmetic on those 32 values per position. The median is the midpoint of the 16th and 17th defenses when they are ranked.

Compare the gap to the median

Wide receiver has the largest raw gap, 23.1 points. But the median defense already gives up 32.95 points to the position, so the gap is about 70 percent of a typical defense's total. At tight end the gap is 22.5 points against a median of 12.5. The softest tight end matchup in the league, Detroit at 28.4, allowed more than twice what the median defense did. The toughest, New England at 5.9, allowed less than half.

That is the point of dividing by the median: the same number of points means something different when the baseline is different. Quarterback sits in between, with a gap of 17.4 against a median of 16.45, and running back has the smallest relative spread, 19.6 against 21.15.

My read, and it is an opinion rather than a finding from this table: a tight end schedule rating deserves more attention than a wide receiver one, because the same rank step moves the number further relative to what the position normally produces.

One player as the illustration

Trey McBride of Arizona is the example in this data set. Through four games of the 2026 season he had 46 targets, an average target share of 0.325, and 69.2 PPR points, or 17.3 per game, according to the same nflverse data. A role that large is the kind a matchup number is worth checking against.

That is an illustration of the principle, not a forecast of McBride's next game. The tables here describe what defenses allowed to a position, not what any one player will do against them.

What this means for a season-long schedule rating

The Strength of Schedule tool averages the points-allowed figure of every opponent on a team's slate, by position, then ranks the 32 teams. Per its methodology, that average uses the opponents' 2025 form, so the table above is not what the tool is built on. It is the current-season version of the same input, and it shows the shape of what the tool ranks.

Ranks flatten this shape. Rank 1 at tight end and rank 1 at wide receiver both read "easiest," but a step between ranks at tight end spans a larger share of the position's normal output. When the tool shows you the value beside the rank, look at the value first and compare it to what a typical schedule at that position looks like.

Four games is a short record

Every figure above comes from four games per defense. One unusual week can move a defense by several points, and Detroit and Minnesota both sit at the extremes in more than one column here, which is a reason to treat the table as a snapshot. As the season fills in, the extremes will move and the gaps will change. See how each team's slate of opponents adds up at the Fantasy Strength of Schedule page, and read how to read a defense vs. position chart before leaning on any single rank.

Frequently asked questions

Which position has the biggest gap between its softest and toughest defense?

Wide receiver has the biggest raw gap, 23.1 points per game, through the first four games of the 2026 season. Relative to the league median, tight end has the biggest, with a 22.5-point gap against a median of 12.5.

Does a defense rank first at the same position every week?

No. The figures here cover four games per defense, and a single game can move a defense several points, so ranks shift as the season adds games.

Are these numbers for one player or the whole position?

They are position-wide: the PPR points a defense allowed per game to that position, not to any one player on the opposing team.

Where does this data come from?

It is nflverse play-by-play and participation data (CC-BY 4.0), consumed via nflreadpy, the same pipeline behind the site's matchup and usage tools.

This guide is informational only and is not professional or betting advice. Matchup figures are estimates from a four-game sample and will change as the season adds data. All figures are from the 2026 NFL season, weeks 1–4. Last reviewed: October 2026. Analysis by Eric, RankFantasy founder.