Brandon Beane's Eye-Popping Proposal for 18-Game NFL Schedule

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in February that there have been no formal talks about adding an 18th game to the league's regular season, something that has been under discussion since 2023.

While an 18th game may still be a ways off, there has been advocacy for it, albeit with rules in place to help keep teams healthy. Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane joined the Pat McAfee Show on Monday at the NFL's league meetings to discuss his idea.

Others have proposed changes that affect the schedule directly, but Beane bucked that trend by discussing an idea involving team rosters.

Beane's proposal

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"I think you would have to talk about expanding rosters if we're going to eighteen games..

You do wanna make sure that your best players are playing in the playoffs" ~ Brandon Beane#PMSLive pic.twitter.com/eTVqFDHt0H
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 30, 2026

Beane said that, in addition to removing a preseason game, the NFL would have to expand both 53-man rosters and gameday rosters to give teams' best players a better chance to be at full strength for the playoffs.

"From 48, I think we need to talk about getting 50, north of 50 to be able to accommodate another game," Beane said. "How do you get through a season so that the rosters aren't depleted?"

McAfee responded by referencing Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix breaking his ankle during the Bills' game against Denver in the AFC divisional round last season.

However, Beane isn't the only one to offer a counterproposal to the NFL adding an 18th game without additional player protections.

Two bye weeks

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft introduced the idea at the league meetings, and it appears more feasible at first glance when considering the workload of an NFL player.

"Changing to the 18 games and having that real content and being mindful of players' safety, I personally would like to see us have a second bye week," Kraft said. "But then, it would allow us to also grow the game internationally."

Kraft added that every NFL team would play at least once overseas, something a second bye week could help accommodate by allowing teams time to recover. The Bills could take a lesson from the Atlanta Falcons, who saw quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (torn ACL) and wide receiver Drake London (PCL strain) suffer injuries in Week 11 last season after playing in Germany the previous week.

A second bye week could help teams keep their best players healthy, but it can also be argued that teams must do a better job of protecting their players themselves.

Bench players for one game

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This idea is akin to the NBA's load management system. NBC Sports reporter Mike Florio proposed that players, except quarterbacks and specialists, could be limited to 17 games if the schedule expands to 18 games. He discussed the idea while appearing on The Rich Eisen Show on March 19.

“One other wrinkle, because it could be hard to sell 18 to the rank-and-file,” Florio said. “There’s an idea floating around: 18 games, every player limited to 17 games. So we’re going to have an 18-game season, but hey, I don’t have to play more than 17.”

Florio said on his podcast, PFT Live, earlier in the week that he came up with the idea when the NFL expanded to 17 games from 16 back in 2021, but added it's purely hypothetical and not something he advocates for.

As unusual as it may be to limit player action in critical games, an idea is still an idea in the NFL's push to generate additional revenue, and the same goes for Beane's proposal of roster expansion.