NFL schedule out; see who 49ers, Raiders will pay and when

The first stop on Jimmy Garoppolo’s comeback tour will be Tampa, Florida.

The 49ers will open the 2019 NFL season at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and two weeks later, the Pittsburgh Steelers will make their first trip to Levi’s Stadium for the 49ers’ home opener, according to the NFL schedule released Wednesday night.

News of a road opener at Tampa certainly fired up former Bucs linebacker Kwon Alexander, who signed with the 49ers last month and tweeted: “Ohhh yeaaa! God knew what I wanted!! See ya week one Tampa.”

Alexander is one of four 49ers coming off anterior cruciate ligament tears, including Garoppolo.

The quarterback, who’s never played at Tampa, is on track to return from knee reconstruction stemming from September’s ACL tear at Kansas City.

Garoppolo won the 49ers’ home opener last year against the Detroit Lions before getting hurt the next Sunday in a loss to the Chiefs.

Coach Kyle Shanahan’s teams have opened 0-9 and 1-7 the past two seasons before finishing 6-10 and 4-12. The 49ers lost 27-9 at Tampa on Nov. 9 and fell to 2-9, hours after releasing linebacker Reuben Foster because of an arrest for suspicion of domestic violence at the team hotel.

In Week 2, the 49ers will travel to face Cincinnati before returning home for their Levi’s Stadium opener. The bye week comes early in the season, in Week 4.

San Francisco has four prime-time games scheduled, including a Monday night game Oct. 7 against the Cleveland Browns. They will also play a Thursday night game on Halloween at Arizona, a short week after hosting Carolina on Sunday, Oct. 27.

The Raiders, meanwhile, begin their 2019 season just like they did a year ago, hosting the back end of Monday Night Football’s Week 1 doubleheader, this time against the Broncos.

After hosting the Chiefs in Week 2, the Raiders begin a stretch of five weeks without a game in Oakland.

They are on the road at the Minnesota Vikings and Indianapolis Colts in weeks 3 and 4, respectively, and then “host” a game in London against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, Oct. 6.

Upon returning to the U.S., the Raiders have a bye in Week 6 before traveling to play Green Bay and Houston in weeks 7 and 8.

The Raiders host the Los Angeles Rams for a Thursday night game on Nov. 7 in Week 10, but have no other prime-time games scheduled besides the opener.

Both the Raiders and 49ers could have their Sunday, Dec. 22 games “flexed” to a primetime slot. The NFL will make that decision after Week 8.

The NFL’s 100th season will kick off with Green Bay at Chicago for the 199th meeting of a series that began in 1921. That Sept. 5 game in the Thursday night slot usually reserved for hosting by the NFL champ forced ?New England to open three nights later, a Sunday night game hosting the Steelers.

The Patriots have a home schedule loaded with top attractions, including Kansas City on Dec. 8 in an AFC title game rematch, and Dallas on Nov. 24.

Monday night’s doubleheader on ESPN will feature Houston at New Orleans before the Raiders-Broncos game.

Week 2 includes an intriguing Monday night matchup of Cleveland at the New York Jets. The very first Monday nighter was a Browns win over Joe Namath and the defending champion Jets in 1970. This one will feature the return to the Meadowlands for now-Browns receiver Odell Beckham Jr., and two young, potential star quarterbacks in Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield and New York’s Sam Darnold.

National broadcasts rarely have included the downtrodden Browns, but they’re a popular choice this year: Cleveland will have four prime-time games, also facing the Rams, the 49ers and archrival Pittsburgh.

Every team will have at least one national TV appearance. New England, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Green Bay, Seattle and the Rams get the maximum prime-time games, five.

The traditional Thanksgiving Day games will have Detroit at home to Chicago, then Buffalo at Dallas. The night game to close the holiday schedule will be New Orleans at Atlanta in another long-time rivalry.

The NFC champion Rams will host Cincinnati in London for one of five international games on the 2019 schedule. The league returns to Mexico, after last season’s Chiefs-Rams game was moved to L.A. because of poor field conditions at Azteca Stadium. On Monday night, Nov. 18, the Chiefs will play the Chargers.