The NFL will eventually have an 18-game regular season. When? That’s going to be figured out soon enough.
But if there’s any lesson through the league’s history, it’s that money determines decisions. And there’s plenty of money in adding another regular-season game.
The current collective bargaining agreement, which was signed in 2020 and runs through ’30, prohibits the league from adding more games onto the schedule without a negotiation. Still, if the NFL wants it badly enough, the NFLPA would be wise to bargain rather than stomp around. Get what you can.
Talking to coaches around the league during the NFL owners’ meetings in Palm Beach, Fla. on Monday, the day AFC coaches were made available to the media, there was a general consensus on a few issues.
“From playing in the league, and I played 16 [games], it was a long season,” said Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans, a 10-year NFL linebacker. “So to play 17 is long, 18 is just adding more games. It’s definitely harder on the players. You think about the guys and if you see what guys go through on a day-to-day basis, week-to-week basis just to get ready for football games, adding another game is definitely going to be hard on the players.
“It’s not my decision to make, but just my perspective and what these guys have to go through and what they put their bodies through, it’ll be really tough to ask the guys to go do another one.”
Going from one table to another, the same concern arose repeatedly. But while the league will pay its typical lip service to the problem of keeping players as healthy as possible, the almighty dollar always wins. And an 18th game would mean an expanded television package with CBS, Fox, Amazon and ESPN, while also creating the possibility of more Saturday stand-alone games once college football’s season wraps up.
“The challenge is the health part of it. You know, the guys staying healthy,” said Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid. “However, they’ll work something out. I’m sure they’re going to give the guys a little break in there somewhere, maybe two bye weeks, who knows? We’ll be coaching well into the New Year.”
Of course, a potential expansion of the regular season would coincide with a decrease of the preseason. We saw this in 2021, when the league went to a 17-game schedule and shrunk the preseason slate from four games to three.
Once the 18-game schedule gets put into motion, the preseason will be reduced to only two games. Yet while coaches are worried about the health of players, they don’t seem overly concerned about the loss of an evaluation opportunity.
One reason is the rise of joint practices, something many in the NFL believe are more valuable than preseason games. In recent years, more and more teams are getting together in July and August, with only the Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders not participating in joint practices last summer.
Between month-long camps and the ability to script situations in joint practices, going down to two preseason games doesn’t appear to be a barrier toward playing 18 games.
“I think you get a lot in training camp regardless with the practices, depending on how long training camp is going to be with two preseason games,” said Indianapolis Colts coach Shane Steichen. “I think you can still get a lot there. Whatever happens with that, obviously, we’ll roll from there. Whether it’s 18 [games] or stays at 17, I think all the coaches will have to adapt and adjust to it.”
Still, there are some who raise concerns about whether younger players on the roster will have enough time to showcase their talents to lock down roster spots.
“Preseason and training camp is about really building your team,” Ryans said. “Training camp is great for a lot of young guys to develop. We need as much training camp and getting those guys in actual games. I think it helps our young guys a lot. The veterans, you know those guys have done it. So not so much for the veteran players, we get that done in our joint practices. But for our younger players, they really need the preseason to help improve their game.”
Ultimately, the 17-game schedule was always a bridge to a larger docket. The league has long expressed interest in an expanded season, and the NFLPA is seemingly open to the idea.
“Whatever they throw at us, we’ll work it,” Reid said. “I’ve been around long enough to where I’ve seen that happen. If they throw it our direction we’ll figure it out and go from there.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Coaches Acknowledge the Toll of an 18-Game Regular Season.