The NFL is on a mission to generate wads of cash this year. A projected revenue of $21 billion might not come by easily, but Roger Goodell proposed a solution to the problem. Instead of 17 games, he proposed that the regular season have 18 games but didn’t really tell how it was going to work. People like Joe Burrow didn’t mind the proposition given that they have some time to recover.

Now, George Kittle is having second thoughts about the 18-game season and gave his two cents on his recent appearance on The Rich Eisen Show. Well, one solution is to remove a preseason game, the other one is not to have a voluntary training camp entirely. Guess what George Kittle banked on? Kittle is a veteran at this point and his work ethic is exemplary, so naturally, he wants to skip the mandatory training for something more exciting.

“I think if you’re past like year 5, you’re in the league for a reason,” said Kittle and added, “It’s not luck at this point. You have a good work ethic; you’re doing the right things like you can take care of yourself. You don’t need to show up and do two weeks of phase 1 which is an hour of training and an hour of film watch. You can do that via Zoom. We proved that in 2020.”

It’s pretty reasonable to entertain the thought that post-COVID, everyone realized there was no need to be physically present for meetings. Even some of our bosses take online calls to keep us privy to stuff, right? It doesn’t change for the football teams as well. As far as watching film goes, players have their tablets and everything installed on them, they can do the shadow work from home too.

Kittle’s approach makes perfect sense in this fast-paced, technology-oriented world where every piece of information is available in the palm of your hand. But what Joe Burrow suggested was along the same lines with a bit of a twist.

Joe Burrow’s alternate solution to George Kittle’s admission

It’s about April and Roger Goodell casually passed around the idea of having 18 regular season games in a season. Burrow wasn’t opposed to the idea, but he had a suggestion to make. On April 27, 2024, Burrow posted on X saying, “18 games? 2 bye weeks.” His ideas are nothing strange to cause a frenzy in the football world, right? It would all make sense when we hear his side of the story.

It just so happens that Burrow appeared on the Pardon My Take podcast and talked about how those 18 games should be scheduled so everyone wins in the end. 18 game seasons would mean more injured players, more exhaustion, and a feeling of restlessness. The teams don’t want any of that to happen to their players heading into the playoffs.

“Gotta have two bi-weeks,” said Burrow and added, “And I think it’d be cool to do a normal bi-week schedule that it is now. Have it spread out, but then week 13, do the Pro Bowl break, where you’re doing the 7-on-7 and all the skills challenges like the NBA does, because I think that would get more ratings for the Pro Bowl.”

Not bad Joey B! But it’s easy to just beat around the bush and not execute the idea. There are many things that need to be considered before pulling this stunt. A different idea could be just getting rid of that 1 preseason game and shifting it to the regular season. But then again, it would require some time off for the players just to recuperate. As a fan, we’re hyped to have an 18-game football season. But do you think it does justice to the players? Share your thoughts in the comments below!