West Coast teams are always at a disadvantage when it comes to travel schedules, given the high concentration of franchises in the Central and Eastern Time Zones. However, the 2020 season will be especially taxing on teams in the NFC West.
With the way the schedule rotation worked out, the Rams, Cardinals, Seahawks and 49ers will all play the AFC East and NFC East. Seven of the teams in those divisions reside on the East Coast, with the Cowboys being the only exception.
For the Rams, they’ll play the Eagles, Bills, Redskins and Dolphins all on the road. The Bucs are also on the Rams’ schedule, a game that will be played in Tampa Bay. That’s a lot of miles for Sean McVay’s team to travel in 2020.
In fact, the Rams will travel the second-most miles (26,104) in the NFL, according to ESPN Stats & Info. The Seahawks will travel the most (29,203) and the 49ers are third (25,507). For comparison, the Ravens will only travel 6,310 miles next season.
There is a caveat to include here, though. The Rams play the Eagles and Bills in back-to-back weeks, with those games being held in Weeks 2 and 3. McVay has already said the team plans to stay out east between those games, rather than flying back to L.A.
That will save the Rams about 4,300 miles of travel, since they won’t be flying from Philadelphia to L.A. and then back to Buffalo. It’s unlikely that was accounted for in ESPN’s mileage calculation, since it isn’t official yet.
Even still, the Rams will be among the teams doing the most traveling next season, which is often the case due to them being located in L.A.
Check out game-by-game score predictions from around the NFL Wires network:
Buf / Mia / NE / NYJ // Bal / Cin / Cle / Pit // Hou / Ind / Jax / Ten // Den / KC / LV / LAC //// Dal / NYG / Phi / Was // Chi / Det / GB / Min // Atl / Car / NO / TB // Ari / LAR / SF / Sea
