NFL commissioner Roger Goodell floated the idea of an 18-game schedule for the regular season, but that's all well and good when you're sitting on the sidelines.
Not so much when you actually play the games, Indianapolis Colts center and players union vice president Ryan Kelly suggested.
"Eighteen games sounds great when Roger's saying it on Pat McAfee," Kelly said in reference to Goodell's appearance on The Pat McAfee Show in April, via Stephen Holder of ESPN. "But until you're the one that's going out there and putting the helmet on for 18 of those games, then come talk to me."
Kelly isn't alone. The idea of adding yet another game — clearly a money grab by Goodell and NFL owners — is sure to be met with strong resistance from the union.
"I [wish] people understood how hard it was to play 16, then they [added] another one?" Kelly said. "And they get rid of preseason games, well, OK, who's that going to hurt? The guys that don't have a shot, the guys that are the undrafted guys or late-round [picks] that need to go out there and improve themselves. I think that the fans see it like they don't watch the preseason games, but they have no idea what goes on inside the building."
Kell concluded that fans "shouldn't know all the injuries that we go through. But they don't know what it takes to play on Sunday. I just think it's too many games."
An 18-game schedule does seem a bit excessive. There was a time when NFL teams played just 14. Then they moved it to 16, before deciding on the current 17. What's one more?
Well, according to the union, one more too many.
