DENVER — For their opening volley, NFL owners put a hard-to-handle spin on their quest to expand the regular season from 16 to 18 games.
Their proposal: Play the 18 games, but players are limited to 16 games.
9NEWS asked the Broncos’ two player union reps – kicker Brandon McManus and cornerback Chris Harris Jr. – what they thought of the proposal.
McManus, the Broncos’ head player rep, said the players union were aware the owners wanted to change the current format from four preseason games and 16 regular season games to two-and-18.
“It was kind of new when they proposed the 16-game player limit,’’ McManus said.
“I thought it was interesting,’’ said Harris, the Broncos’ assistant player rep. “I don’t think it will pass because I think what makes the NFL great is every game counts.’’
For the fans, the ideal solution would probably be two preseason and 16 regular season games. It’s not the regular season that’s the problem. It’s the preseason. When games don’t count, they don’t matter and it they don’t matter, why bother?
But 2-and-16 is not practical for the owners or the players because that’s 18 total games, or two less games of revenue. The owners aren’t negotiating a new collective bargaining arrangement were they get less profits, and the players aren’t taking a pay cut.
So let’s look at three proposals – the one just submitted by the owners, a possible solution I came up with, and a possible compromise – and see what the Broncos player reps think.
1) 18-game regular-season schedule with each player limited to 16 games
I don’t think the owners are really serious about this proposal. I think it’s a nice opening pitch to start a discussion and work toward a compromise.
Among the problems with having all players sit two games a year is teams only carry one long snapper, one kicker and one punter on their 53-man roster. You can’t very well get a long snapper and kicker off the streets for two games.
At the very least there would have to player exceptions to the rule.
“They could maybe have quarterbacks play every game since they have a lot more security around them with the way the rules are,’’ Harris said.
“I don’t think this would be very beneficial to the owners because let’s say we travel to Green Bay,’’ McManus said. “We go there every eight years. Broncos fans might want to go there and all the sudden Joe Flacco and Aaron Rodgers aren’t playing. I would think that would potentially hurt revenue.
“And then what happens when you come down to playoff time – when do you use the players for which games? Do you not play them in the beginning part of the season?
“I don’t know if quarterbacks, kickers, punters, snappers would be able to play in all 18 because we’re less injury-prone. A lot of question marks with that in my mind.’’
2) Two weeks of training camp (instead of three weeks), two preseason games (instead of four), 18 games in 20 weeks (instead of 16 in 17 weeks) and two bye weeks with complete seven days off – no practices, no meetings – in two bye weeks. As it stands now teams have one bye week with only four days off, Thursday through Sunday.
This is my possible solution. For starters, my guess is everyone -- owners, players and fans -- would be all for wiping out two preseason games. (Our 9NEWS/Channel 20 stations have broadcast rights to all four of the Broncos’ preseason games and we love carrying all four. But I’m sure we’d be willing to fold two of those preseason games into the regular season.)
Now that I've lopped off two preseason games, I must acknowledge the owners and players won’t accept 10 percent less revenue so that’s why I went along with the 18-game regular-season schedule idea.
But not the 16-game player limit. You can’t have Tom Brady and Von Miller sit out two games a year because you simply cannot sacrifice the integrity of competition. No way. Especially with sports gambling possibly coming to a stadium near you. Everybody plays all 18.
So then you have to figure out how to get NFL bodies through an 18-game schedule and that’s where I came up with a second bye week – with the complete 7 days off, as some coaches currently work their players pretty good on Tuesdays and Wednesdays of bye weeks.
Trimming 33 percent of training camp and 50 percent of the preseason while more tripling the number of off days through the bye weeks (from 4 to 14) could make an 18-game regular schedule doable.
“If you take away practice during the bye, I think a lot of guys would definitely like that,’’ Harris said. “Practice sometimes can take a toll just like a game almost. They might like that as opposed to what the NFL just sent. But I don’t think we would agree to 18 games. I doubt that.’’
Added McManus: “I think having the two bye weeks completely off is a good idea. But I think the biggest thing is, what is the incentive for players to play two extra games? Even though there are four preseason games, the starters aren’t getting too many reps. Those two extra games are a lot to put on the bodies.’’
3) 17 regular-season games with one played internationally
This would be a compromise that I would not dismiss as a possibility come the next CBA, which is due prior to the 2021 season.
“I would love to go overseas. We haven’t had a chance to play overseas yet,’’ Harris said.
Harris and Miller have the most Bronco player seniority, as they were rookies in 2011. The Broncos last played outside the continental United States in 2010, when they lost to the San Francisco 49ers in London, a game infamous for Denver’s videotaping scandal.
“But I really don’t think there will be a compromise on the 18-game proposal,’’ Harris said. “I really don’t. I don’t think it will happen at all.’’
Among the problems with this 3-17 format is an odd number of games for an even number of teams (the NFL has 32 teams) would likely become a scheduling nightmare.
“I think you would have to have two bye weeks to accommodate the travel,’’ McManus said. “The travel would be tolling on the players. And then you have to think about: Do you take that long trip late in the season when you’re making a playoff run?
“You’d have to be able to frontload that extra game and make sure everybody does play an international game.’’
The bottom line?
“I doubt all the player reps would agree to 18 games in any form,’’ Harris said.
“I truly don’t think it will get there, an 18-game season,’’ McManus said. “I believe they may add a couple more playoff games. I think that might have a much better chance of passing than two more games. I know they would possibly like to add two more playoff teams.’’
