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San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle would accept the NFL expanding to 18 regular-season games, but he would like to see the league add a second bye week in return.
Kittle also provided an outline on his idea for an adjusted offseason schedule during a Wednesday appearance on the Rich Eisen Show (conversation begins around the 13:10 mark).
Kittle said it seems “inevitable” that the league is going to 18 games, but he’s said he’s “fine with that” with the caveat of having two byes.
As far as his offseason ideas go, he’s in favor of eliminating OTA’s altogether or just limiting them to the month of May, with perhaps an exception occurring for new players, who could show up for a smaller period of time to aid their transition to the squad.
Kittle also said that he’s fine with bumping the start of training camp earlier in July, having a “ramp-up” period and beginning practices by the end of the month.
During a recent appearance on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow advocated for a second bye week that could act as the Pro Bowl week. He’s also noted his desire for a second bye week if the season moves to 18 games.
The NFL can’t unilaterally decide to move to an 18-game season before the end of the collective bargaining agreement in 2031, but it could advocate the NFLPA to agree to a switch before then. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is in favor of it, as he noted to reporters in May.
“We think that’s a good trade: less preseason games and more regular season games,” Goodell notaby said, per The 33rd Team’s Ari Meirov.
Obviously, player safety is a factor when increasing the game count by one, which already happened in 2021.
“The key thing for us is looking at making sure we continue to do the things that make our game safer,” Goodell said. “Seventeen games is a long season, so we want to make sure we look at that and make sure that we continue the safety efforts.”
Perhaps a streamlined offseason, as Kittle suggested, could help matters. Ultimately, as Kittle said, it does seem like the league is hurdling toward an 18-game slate. It may just be a matter of when and what the new schedules look like at that point.