Here’s How Far Each NFL Team Will Travel In 2015

The NFL draft is already upon us, which means that it’s time to start thinking about football again! Each team will be cramming in some last-minute studying of their draft boards and hopes to have the magic touch to pick the prospects that will take their team to an elite level next year.

But we all know that elite status isn’t earned on-the-field, it’s earned off-the-field. Well, technically in the air.

The 2015 NFL schedule was released last week, and I’ve summarized how far each of the 32 NFL teams will fly during the regular season. A few notes on the methodology:

1. Only games from the 17-week regular season have been included; no pre-season games and no post-season predictions
2. Each team’s miles were based on 8 away games; additional “away” game assumed for JAX, KC, and MIA who will be hosting a game in London
3. Used the nearest commercial airport to the team’s stadium (e.g. SF’s primary airport assumed to be San Jose, CA (SJC)). In reality, teams may use smaller private airport for their charter flights
4. Assumed that each team travels home after each game
5. For distances under 200 miles, assumed that the team will travel by bus and therefore 0 flight miles were credited
6. All flight distances calculated via www.gcmap.com

So which team has the honor of flying the furthest in 2015? My San Francisco 49ers at a whopping 27,707 miles! With the off-season they had, that just seems cruel.

On the flip side, the Philadelphia Eagles will be flying just over 6,300 miles which is less than a fourth of what the 49ers will fly. Rumor has it that Chip Kelly struck a deal with the NFL and in exchange for not having to travel, he had to sign Tim Tebow. Anything for ratings, right?

What jumped out to me is that a typical NFL team’s travel schedule really doesn’t seem that bad. Obviously NFL teams benefit from just 8-game road schedules in a given season, and basically get a full week between trips to recover. In comparison, their counterparts in the NBA and MLB have road schedules of 41 and 81 games, respectively, and often have to go on road tours for weeks at a time.

Here’s the detailed breakout by team:

Since the NFL season is so short, I also looked at the annualized miles traveled by each team and compared these figures to the elite tiers that we all are accustomed to. Looking at it this way does make it seem rougher, but in reality most players are spending the off-season on a beach somewhere, as opposed to traveling week in and week out like traditional road warriors.

And lastly, for the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington “Football Team” fans, I’ve taken a look at miles traveled vs. number of wins over the past couple seasons and found no inverse correlation, so don’t get your hopes up!