Last year saw the NFL turn to a 17-game season, extending the regular season one week to 18 weeks while taking away one preseason game.
While this was great for NFL fans who are excited to see action-packed football for as many weeks as possible, it does put a toll on players’ bodies.
The wear and tear of an NFL game is certainly grueling for players, and San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle believes that the NFL should adjust the scheduling to better take care of its players.
Kittle discussed the topic during an interview with Kevin Hart on Hart’s show Cold as Balls, and brought up the idea of adding a week to the NFL season that would be an additional bye week for every NFL team.
“There’s a huge physical toll,” Kittle told Hart. “And like, 17 games is a lot. It’s a lot of games, with one bye, whether it’s Week Four or the bye is Week 11. I’m advocating for two byes.”
He also added that he spends “a couple hundred thousand dollars” per year on his body, which is a possibility for him considering he is making $11.96 million this upcoming season.
Lower-level NFL players certainly can’t afford to invest in their body and recovery like Kittle does, and the grueling fashion of the NFL may need another bye week to help players with injury recovery.
This wouldn’t be a new idea for the NFL. They incorporated two bye weeks in 1993, but they got rid of the format because they felt that the product was diluted with fewer games per week.
It will certainly be something that other NFL players would probably get behind, but it may be difficult to pull off for the NFLPA as they continue to make conditions as ideal as they can for their players.
[Pro Football Talk, LOL Network]
