The Buffalo Bills' 2026 schedule was revealed last Thursday, and the team is geared up for another chance at the Super Bowl title this season. With that being said, no games are ever easy in the NFL, as the league paid them no favors with whom they put on the Bills' schedule.
With some of the NFL's top quarterbacks leading their teams, defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard will face an uphill battle trying to stop them and give the ball back to their own superstar quarterback, Josh Allen, who is looking to win his team their first Super Bowl ring.
Let's break down the top quarterbacks that Jim Leonhard's defense will need to game-plan for the most in 2026.
Top QBs Jim Leonhard will face in 2026 (in schedule order)
1. C.J. Stroud - Houston Texans (Week 1)
The Texans have won the last two meetings in Houston. Stroud technically is 1-0, as he played in the 2024 matchup but was hurt, and Davis Mills started last year's victory for them. This year's matchup will be in Week 1, when all players from both teams are assumed to be healthy, including Stroud.
The Bills have a chance to finish this game quickly, with either a huge Week 1 win or a three-year losing streak in Houston and a 0-1 start in the first year of the Joe Brady era. As for Leonhard, his goal should be to aggressively blitz Stroud while also mixing in different looks to confuse the Houston offense and play mostly man coverage throughout the game.
2. Jared Goff - Detroit Lions (Week 2)
The Bills will face the Detroit Lions in their inaugural home opener at the new Highmark Stadium, with the game broadcast nationwide. The Bills can definitely rack up points on offense to win this game, but the key for the defense will be to limit a Lions' offense led by Goff, who averaged 28.3 points per game last season.
Leonhard's defense must be prepared to shut down the Lions behind the sticks and avoid giving up 4th-and-1 in key moments when head coach Dan Campbell likes to go for it.
The Bills should win this game, as the fans and stadium noise will be much louder than they were at the old Highmark Stadium.
3. Justin Herbert - Los Angeles Chargers (Week 3)
The Bills return home for a 1:00 pm afternoon game against the Los Angeles Chargers. This will be a tough opponent for a 1:00 pm game, as the Chargers are very well-coached under Jim Harbaugh and have quarterback Justin Herbert, who plays well in the regular season but struggles in the playoffs.
The Chargers have a huge offensive line and a line to run in the I formation with their fullback, Alec Ingold, in front of their running back Omarion Hampton. Stopping the run in this game will be important for Leonhard's defense, testing their readiness to manage the challenge and to contain Herbert in the pocket as best as possible.
4. Drake Maye - New England Patriots (Weeks 4 and 13)
With the Bills splitting their two regular-season meetings in 2025, this year's two meetings should be even better. The Bills are looking to take the AFC East right back from Maye and the Patriots, and what better way to do that than sweeping them this season?
In both meetings, it will be critical to stop their running back, TreVeyon Henderson, and keep Maye from being Josh Allen's doppelganger as they try to win a second straight AFC East title.
5. Matthew Stafford - Los Angeles Rams (Week 5)
The Bills start their first of two-road games in LA to face Stafford and the Rams' high-octane offense at Sofi Stadium. At 38 years old, Stafford is still a top-tier quarterback on a team with two star receivers, Puka Nacua and Davante Adams, to throw the ball to.
Their two-headed rushing attack of Kyren Williams and Blake Corum is solid, too. The Bills may have to start playing man-to-man coverage, but may have to sit back into zone coverage, if they're getting beat one-on-one.
6. Lamar Jackson - Baltimore Ravens (Week 8)
While recently, the Bills have had success against the Baltimore Ravens in the playoffs, that was with Sean McDermott as head coach.
To start, the Ravens have a new head coach in Jessie Minter. But he's still connected to the Harbaugh tree as he was the Chargers' defensive coordinator under Jim Harbaugh. Now, he will be taking over for John Harbaugh, who took the head coaching job with the New York Giants.
Leonhard must blitz Jackson aggressively and put his edge rushers and linebackers inside the box to contain running back Derrick Henry. This pick-your-poison strategy worked in the 2024 AFC Divisional Playoffs, when the Bills squeaked by the Ravens 27-25.
7. Patrick Mahomes - Kansas City Chiefs (Week 12)
After your Thanksgiving turkey dinner, get ready for that pumpkin pie, as the Bills will be playing the Kansas City Chiefs at the new Highmark Stadium for the first time ever.
Once again, this will be a Bills/Chiefs home game in the regular season, but this year's edition will be different.
In past games, it was Sean McDermott vs. Andy Reid, so both squads basically played the same type of defense.
This year, though, it's Joe Brady vs. Reid, and the way the Bills will be game-planning for a hopefully healthy Mahomes will be different.
Rather than just trying to bring down Mahomes with four down linemen and playing zone coverage on tight end Travis Kelce, which never works, Leonard will look to confuse Mahomes with different blitzing fronts. As for trying to contain their receivers, you will see more press coverage on them, as they look to stop them in their tracks.
As for the run game, they have Kenneth Walker, but Leonhard's defense should be ready to contain him all night long.
8. Jordan Love - Green Bay Packers (Week 14)
The Bills will be traveling to historic Lambeau Field to take on Love and the Packers' Matt LeFleur offense. The game will be on Sunday Night Football in the tundra of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The Packers have a great running game, but they lost their defensive coordinator, Jeff Hafley, as he is now the Miami Dolphins' head coach. In comes recently fired Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon to take over, as he has already been to the Super Bowl as the defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Leonhard has to run his defense straight up and let the offense score enough points to pull up a road upset in Green Bay.
9. Caleb Williams - Chicago Bears (Week 15)
The Bears will be coming to town to face the Bills on Saturday night in December on CBS. The story of this game will be the two young offensive minds: head coach Ben Johnson and Joe Brady.
This game could come down to how many successful hook-and-ladder plays are converted late in the fourth quarter by each team. It's also a battle between two former Sean Payton assistants as defensive coordinators, Leonhard and Dennis Allen.
Expect the Bills to come out and pressure Williams to try to prevent him from making an off-platform throw on 4th-and-15, and vice versa with the Bears and Allen.
This game may come down to whoever scores with the ball last in the fourth quarter.
10. Bo Nix - Denver Broncos (Week 16)
This game could be the start of a new AFC rivalry, as the Bills, led by Brady, will be walking into Denver to take on his mentor, Sean Payton, and the Broncos in a rematch of the 2025 AFC Divisional Playoff.
It will also be a battle between the coordinators, as Pete Carmichael and Leonhard will be taking on their former coach mates, Bills backup quarterback Davis Webb and Vance Joseph.
Unlike the playoff game, this will be a game where both coaches know each other's tendencies, and it will be up to the players on both teams to step up and come away with a quality conference win.
Look for Leonhard to try to confuse Nix with multiple fronts to neutralize him, and for big nickel packages on third-and-long. But look for Vance Joseph to do the same thing to Allen as the schemes both defensive coordinators are running are the ones they learned from Payton with the Broncos.
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