Buffalo Bills 2024 NFL schedule release primer

Here's everything you need to know to prepare yourself for the upcoming release of the Buffalo Bills' 2024 schedule.

Oct 22, 2023; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; Buffalo Bills helmets seen by the bench prior to a / Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Grab your wallet and pull up your favorite vacation-booking website—the 2024 NFL regular season schedule is about to be released.

The league hasn’t yet pinned down (or, at least, publicly disclosed) a reveal date, but we do know that next season’s schedule will be unveiled at some point in May, with recent reveal trends leading some outlets to suspect May 9 as the release date. We already know who the Buffalo Bills will be playing throughout the campaign—those opponents have been locked in since the end of last season—but the reveal will provide dates for each contest, allowing fans to plan their road trips well in advance.

Buffalo Bills 2024 Opponents

Here are the teams whom Buffalo will visit on the road next season:

Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, New York Jets, New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions

And here's who it'll face at Highmark Stadium:

Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, New York Jets, New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, Kansas City Chiefs

How opponents are determined

Few processes in the NFL are simple, and expectedly, determining the schedule falls into the broad 'complicated' territory. The simplest part of the schedule is divisional matchups; each team plays every other team in their division twice—once on the road, and once at home.

Each team also plays against a full slate against another division from its own conference, with two of these games occurring at home and the other two occurring on the road. This year, the AFC East will face off against the AFC South. The Bills will host the Jaguars and Titans while playing in Houston and Indianapolis. Teams also play individual games against clubs from the other two divisions within their conference, with the matchups determined by the prior season’s divisional standings.

Each division also plays a full slate against a division from the other conference; this year, the AFC East will face the NFC West. The schedule is rounded out with a single game against an opponent from a division not previously present on its schedule; this matchup, too, is determined by the prior season’s divisional standings.

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For a more comprehensive look at how the schedule is determined, check out the NFL’s official operations website.

Interesting Storylines

Buffalo's schedule, on paper, is difficult, as it is set to face off against both teams that appeared in Super Bowl LVIII—the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers. Making matters a bit easier to stomach is that each game will be played in Highmark Stadium. This marks the fifth consecutive season in which the Bills and Chiefs will meet in the regular season; the last three regular-season matchups have been played in Arrowhead Stadium (the Bills have won all three of these contests).

Buffalo will face off against its fourth-all-time leading receiver when it faces the Houston Texans in NRG Stadium next season. The Bills traded wide receiver Stefon Diggs to the Texans in the 2024 offseason, pairing him with reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year C.J. Stroud.

Seven of Buffalo's 2024 opponents qualified for the postseason last year.

Exciting rookies the Bills are set to face in the 2024 NFL season include quarterback Drake Maye (Patriots), wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. (Cardinals), defensive end Laiatu Latu (Colts), defensive tackle Byron Murphy (Seahawks), defensive end Chop Robinson (Dolphins), and wide receiver Xavier Worthy (Chiefs).