George Kittle is open to the NFL adding an 18th game to the schedule—as long as the league does two things for the players.
The 49ers star tight end recently spoke with Front Office Sports on a wide range of topics and said he thinks players would be more open to adding an additional regular season game if it came with more rest and salary.
“You got to have an extra bye regardless,” Kittle told FOS. “This season is too long as it is. I think 16 games was perfect. They add an extra game for more TV stuff, which, hey I get it makes everyone more money. If you’re gonna add an 18th game you gotta add an extra bye.”
Kittle’s first request doesn’t seem unrealistic. Patriots owner Robert Kraft said in March he, too, would want an extra bye week if the league added another game.
“The one thing that didn’t really make sense to me is you sign a contract to play 16 games,” Kittle said. “They added the 17th game and you don’t get paid anymore money, your paycheck just gets cut an extra time. So you’re making 17 paychecks instead of 16. So in my opinion I’m just like if you bumped up the payment a little bit for that last game instead of cutting it again I think guys would be more interested in that as well.”
Players got additional revenue from the 17th game, and would likely seek more if the league pushes for an 18th game. Owners would have to make their own concessions to lengthen the schedule, which is why Kittle has a wish list.
“You can’t keep doing this cause the game is hard enough as it is,” Kittle said. “If you look back at last year, the amount of players who were hurt it’s actually insane. Let’s take care of the guys a little bit here.”
At the NFL annual league meetings in March, multiple team owners endorsed the prospect of an 18th game, which the NFLPA is publicly against. The union was also against the addition of a 17th game, but ultimately approved it in 2021. The league’s current CBA doesn’t expire until 2031, which means the ultimate decision may still be years away.
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