The NFL expanded the regular season from 16 games to 17 games before the start of the 2021 NFL season, and there’s been a lot of discussion about expanding the regular season further to 18 games in the near future. But if that happens, Cincinnati Bengals star quarterback Joe Burrow thinks the league needs to give teams an additional bye week, too.
During his press conference this week, Joe Burrow said that while he understands the financial incentive for the league to move to 18 games, he thinks the players will need another week of rest, too.
“Eighteen games is definitely a big ask, that’s not easy,” Burrow said according to WLWT.com. “Adding that extra game, obviously it’d be great for revenue. But I feel like adding that bye week, if you’re going to have an 18 game schedule, is pretty critical for our bodies.
“If you keep that first bye week — some teams have that first bye Week 5, Week 6 — and then you’re going 12, 13 games in a row. That’s not easy. Probably a Thursday night game thrown in there, too, That’s never easy. So, those two byes are pretty critical.”
Burrow went as far as to suggest a sort of league-wide break in the middle of the season.
“Maybe you could do something like, the first bye is kind of how we have it now, and the second bye everybody has it at once, and you make it like the Pro Bowl week, like an All-Star break for the NBA,” Burrow said. “I don’t know, people get paid a lot of money to have those discussions and make those decisions.”
Obviously, this is a pretty significant proposal from Burrow and it led to a lot of reactions on social media.
Agree with Burrow 100%. An 18 game season would no doubt require additional rest.
— Scott Bouska (@sbouska2) May 8, 2024
Been saying 2 bye weeks for awhile now. Better for health and more 💰 https://t.co/3kTY8EeIxc
— David J. Chao – ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) May 8, 2024
Having two byes in a season would not be unprecedented; the NFL did it in 1993 in the fourth year of byes. That season, the Dolphins had a bye in Week 3 and Week 7. The league went back to one bye the following season and it's been that way ever since. https://t.co/hZAyArexXE
— Alain Poupart (@PoupartNFL) May 8, 2024
2 league-wide bye weeks, no more dumb rotating Weeks 4-14 spread. It was always stupid and should even out the competition level. But that only happens if NFL cares about health/safety. https://t.co/zV4HPYxoGv
— Noel Appleton (@BaronVonDanger) May 8, 2024
If the league is going to go to an 18-week schedule, they absolutely have to do 1, if not both of these. Players understand how important bye weeks are to recovery and injury prevention. https://t.co/yPBKTAUYpf
— Field Vision Sports (@FieldVisionMi) May 8, 2024
The league should absolutely "shut down" for a week mid-season for an All-Star break. Now that the Pro Bowl is a flag football game, there is no reason to have it at the end of the year. https://t.co/jBJS8o3HHB
— Dalton Blackman (@blackman_dalton) May 8, 2024
If the league does move to 18 regular season games, we’ll have to see if Burrow gets his wish with an additional bye week, as well.
[WLWT]
