It’s May, and aside from the NFL Draft being over with and rookie mini-camps getting underway throughout the league, that means it’s almost time for the release of the 2026 NFL schedule. The Bucs already know their opponents for the upcoming season, but they’ll know the full slate with all the details soon enough.

The schedule release typically comes around the middle of the month, and while there is word of a potential delay by a week, that should still mean a release before Memorial Day. By the time the league does drop the full slate of games, we’ll be about four months away from kickoff.

So, while we wait for the Bucs’ 2026 schedule to drop within the coming weeks, why not have a little fun?

I figured I’d try my best to narrow down which of Tampa Bay’s contests could end up in primetime slots, then I try my hand at putting together a mock schedule.

Feel free to tell me where I’ll be wrong, and feel even freer to tell me how right I am and how my predictions are so spot-on that the NFL might as well bring me on as a consultant to help make the schedule for 2027.

Revisiting The Bucs’ 2026 Opponents

When the 2025 NFL regular season reached its end, the Bucs knew their full list of opponents for the 2026 season. But that was four months ago, so here’s a refresher on who Tampa Bay will match up with later this year.

At Raymond James Stadium, the Bucs will host the Packers, Vikings, Browns, Steelers, Chargers, Rams and, of course, the Falcons, Saints and Panthers.

Bucs WR Chris Godwin – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Away from home, the Bucs will face the Bears, Lions, Ravens, Bengals, Cowboys and, yes, the Falcons, Saints and Panthers.

Outside of its six NFC South games, Tampa Bay will face both the NFC and AFC North divisions, while their other NFC games come against fellow second-place finishers in the Rams and Cowboys. The “extra” opponent for the 2026 season is the Chargers.

Which Non-NFC South Games Might Warrant National Attention?

So, as we go about narrowing down possible primetime games for the Bucs, let’s start with some of the intriguing non-divisional opponents they’ll see. Because I’m operating under the assumption that Tampa Bay will have one primetime NFC South game, which we’ll get on to in a bit. But what other opponents could the league match the Bucs up with under the lights?

In terms of the home slate, the Packers present an interesting option. The two teams haven’t met in primetime recently, so it’s a fresher matchup between two teams with playoff aspirations. The quarterback battle between Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield and Jordan Love should be entertaining, too.

Packers QB Jordan Love and Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Jeff Hanisch

Speaking of interesting quarterback battles, there’s always going to be quite a few of them when Mayfield is your quarterback. Going off that thought, the Chargers are another home opponent that could work as a fun matchup for the Bucs in primetime with Justin Herbert leading Los Angeles into Raymond James Stadium to face Mayfield and Tampa Bay.

The road slate presents even more primetime possibilities for Mayfield and the Bucs. Trips to face Caleb Williams and the Bears, Jared Goff and the Lions, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, Joe Burrow and the Bengals and Dak Prescott and the Cowboys all feel like potential picks for primetime, don’t they?

But we have to narrow these down. I’m thinking one fresh matchup and one that the league seemingly loves to toss into a prime slot at every opportunity. The former would be a Sunday Night Football game against the Bengals in Cincinnati, while the latter will be yet another night game against the Cowboys at Jerry World, this time on Monday Night Football.

Oh, and here’s the other interesting twist that could come into play with the Bucs’ real-life schedule and it’s factoring into my mock schedule, too. Could Tampa Bay have an international game in 2026? Pewter Report has learned that they won’t have to give up any of their home games, but I really do think they might be candidates to fill the other spot in the Lions’ game that is set for Munich, Germany.

Lions HC Dan Campbell and Bucs HC Todd Bowles- Photo by: USA Today

Tampa Bay and Detroit both have marketing rights and commercial rights in Germany, and it was the Bucs and Seahawks who played the league’s first-ever game in Germany back in 2022. With Detroit being one of the teams on Tampa Bay’s road slate, the organization’s existing ties to Germany and the fact that these two teams have met at Ford Field three times since the start of the 2024 calendar year, this feels like it could be a very fun international contest.

With my projection of the Bucs and Lions meeting in Germany, that would obviously take a Bucs-Lions Thanksgiving game off the table. And while Dallas is also on the road schedule and could play host to Tampa Bay on Turkey Day, I don’t think that happens. I could be off base, but it feels like the league really likes those divisional matchups on Thanksgiving Day, with the Lions facing an NFC North rival and the Cowboys facing an NFC East foe.

Which NFC South Rival Could The Bucs See In Primetime?

As for which NFC South opponent the Bucs could meet under the lights, I have to think it’s down to the Saints or Panthers. This is the NFC South, so anything could happen. The Falcons could factor into the division race. But with the offseason they’ve had, I’m not sure Atlanta will be looked at in the same light it was in over the last couple of years. Plus, the Bucs and Falcons have met on Thursday Night Football in back-to-back years, so shaking things up is for the best.

The better matchup could be the Bucs and Panthers, as the two teams went down to the wire for the division title in 2025. Carolina narrowly won it, ending Tampa Bay’s four-year reign atop the South while getting back to the top for the first time since 2015. But there just doesn’t seem to be as much juice to this one, so I’m not sure the league will see it as a draw nationally. Not to mention, the Panthers, despite being the reigning division champions, currently have the lowest odds to win the NFC South in 2026 (though it is close).

Bucs DT Vita Vea and Saints QB Tyler Shough – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

My pick for primetime would be New Orleans. The Saints are the upstart team who finished the 2025 season on a strong note, with rookie quarterback Tyler Shough emerging as the team’s presumed quarterback of the future. Right now, New Orleans has the second-highest odds to win the division and would appear to be the biggest threat to Tampa Bay in its quest to regain the division crown.

Add in the bad blood and the records-out-the-window type of close games these two squads play and I think it makes for a primetime game. The two sides haven’t met under the lights since 2022, and I think that changes this year. With my primetime picks above (including the Germany game) all being on the road, this one stands alone as Tampa Bay’s lone home primetime game in my mock schedule.

FULL Bucs Mock Schedule – 2026

So, here goes nothing. Here’s my guess at the Bucs’ 2026 schedule:

Week 1: at Panthers (1:00 p.m.)
Week 2: vs. Browns (1:00 p.m.)
Week 3: vs. Rams (4:25 p.m.)
Week 4: at Bengals (Sunday Night Football)
Week 5: vs. Chargers (1:00 p.m.)
Week 6: at Falcons (1:00 p.m.)
Week 7: at Bears (4:05 p.m.)
Week 8: vs. Saints (Thursday Night Football)
Week 9: at Lions (in Munich, Germany)
Week 10: BYE WEEK
Week 11: vs. Packers (4:25 p.m.)
Week 12: vs. Panthers (1:00 p.m.)
Week 13: at Cowboys (Monday Night Football)
Week 14: vs. Vikings (1:00 p.m.)
Week 15: at Ravens (4:25 p.m.)
Week 16: vs. Steelers (1:00 p.m.)
Week 17: at Saints (4:05 p.m.)
Week 18: vs. Falcons (TBD)

ANALYSIS: With questions surrounding Carolina’s staying power atop the NFC South, I think a season-opening rematch between the two teams that fought so closely for the division title last year makes more sense than late-season contests. One apparent lock is that the Bucs will be opening up on the road, as Bruno Mars has tour dates scheduled for Sept. 12 and 13 at Raymond James Stadium…

While the Bucs and Rams could square off in primetime once again, their Sunday Night Football meeting in 2025 turned out to be a dud. I don’t think there’s a repeat of a primetime game, but I do think this makes sense as America’s Game of the Week in Week 3… An early-season Sunday Night Football game between Baker Mayfield’s Bucs and Joe Burrow’s Bengals feels like a fun one… The Week 7 trip to Chicago comes in the 4:00 p.m. window as an intriguing NFC clash…

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

I’m bound to be wrong on just how much spotlight the Bucs will have in the middle of the season, as a Thursday Night Football game, an international game and another America’s Game of the Week game all within four weeks seems unlikely. I’m just throwing darts here…

A late-season primetime game against the Cowboys seems like something the NFL would saddle the Bucs with even though they just did that in 2024 around the same time and in the same location… Another Game of the Week-caliber matchup comes in Baltimore in Week 15… Keeping with recent years’ trends, I have the Bucs finishing the season with back-to-back divisional contests.

What do you think, Pewter People? What do you like, dislike, agree with or disagree with in my Bucs Mock Schedule for 2026? Which games could you see in primetime? Let us know in the comments section below.