Roger Goodell Says NFL's Next 'Logical Step' is to Move to 18 Game Regular Season Schedule

Will the NFL make the leap to an 18 game regular season?

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) throws from the pocket in the first quarter of the NFL Week 18 game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — The NFL could expand to 18 regular season games in the near future.

Commissioner Roger Goodell discussed the topic on Bloomberg TV.

“We would keep within that 20-game framework,” Goodell said. “We went to 16 and four, and now 17 and three. So 18 and two is a logical step.”

The NFL adding an 18th regular season game and trimming the preseason to just two games would make sense.

Joe Burrow is open to the idea, but he wants a second bye week.

"I think it would be cool to have the normal bye week schedule that it is now, have it spread out, but then, like Week 13, do like the Pro Bowl break where you’re doing the 7-on-7 and all the skills challenges like the NBA does," Burrow said last year. "I think that would get more ratings for the Pro Bowl, and then it would also give everybody that bye week going into the last six games of the year."

If they're going to make players play 18 regular season games, a second bye week would make a ton of sense. A Pro Bowl weekend like Burrow suggested could be fun for fans and the rest of the league.

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