The last thing we, as NFL fans, want to see is a lockout so the news that there is optimism that a new CBA could be agreed upon in the next week is great news.
Adam Schefter explains details what the owners are proposing and you can check that out here.
The gist of everything is:
- Playoff expansion this season, going from six to seven teams with No. 1 seeds receiving a bye week and postseason pay and six games being played on wild-card weekend (three on Saturday, three on Sunday).
- Regular season expansion to 17 games with the preseason getting shortened to three games.
- Increased revenue for players
That seems fine and all, but why do we need to change anything? The owners aren't the ones risking their bodies for our entertainment. I love football and as much as I would love to see more of it, we do have to think more about how it impacts the players.
Ask Emmanuel Sanders how he felt having to play a 17-game schedule last season.
And when is enough, enough? Could the owners be using this as a stepping stone to an 18th game?
The NFL has done a lot to make the game safer with the equipment and doing their best to police the big hits, hits on defenseless players, and hits to the upper and lower bodies of the players but adding one or two more games adds that much more opportunity for players to get that one hit that could do serious damage. Not to mention getting rid of two-a-days and limiting padded practices during the season to 14 over the course of the year.
There's a reason players only play once a week and that the NFL is only 16 games long.
As for the playoffs, you already have four division winners and two wild-card teams. Do we really need a third wild-card team? What makes the NFL playoffs so great is that it is the best teams making it in. Of course you have the outlier seasons like in 2010 (Seahawks 7-9) and 2014 (Panthers 7-8-1) but that's exactly what they are, outlier seasons. Plus, even adding a third wild-card team won't fix the issue of a team with a losing record making the playoffs as both of the teams just mentioned were division winners.
I love football as much as any other sports talk personality but the NFL is fine the way it is.