"You've seen amount of injuries that piled up" - Patrick Mahomes sounds alarm on Roger Goodell's 18-game gamble in NFL

The NFL changed its 16-game regular season schedule to a 17-game season in 2021, a year after the 2020 collective bargaining agreement authorized the modification. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has since toyed with the idea of the league switching to an 18-game season, most notably declaring in January that it is a "logical" next phase for the league to add an 18th game.

It seems inevitable that an 18th game would be introduced as soon as the NFL increased its slate to 17 games four years ago. However, several players, like Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, have opposed the idea.

Mahomes, 29, expressed his disapproval of the NFL's potential decision to add an 18th game to its regular season schedule when asked about it in an interview with CNBC this week. As he pointed out, though, he wouldn't be entirely opposed to the addition if an extra bye week is also added.

"If there were a way to get to 18 games, I'm not a big fan of it," Mahomes said. "But if there were a way, I think you got to add some bye weeks in there to give more time for guys' bodies to heal. I think that you'd have to find a way to have more bye weeks, more time spread out.

"I mean, you've seen the amount of injuries that have kind of piled up there at the end of seasons, and you want to have the best players playing in the biggest games."

The immediate problem with an 18-game regular season, as explained by Mahomes, is the potential rise in how players sustain injuries. Although incorporating an additional bye week into the schedule will not entirely resolve the injury issue, it would provide players with an extra week to rest and recuperate before the playoffs.

Another NFL quarterback shares Patrick Mahomes’ sentiment concerning an 18-game season

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow agrees with Patrick Mahomes that if the league wants to add another game to its schedule, the players will need two bye weeks.

The reigning NFL Comeback Player of the Year wrote:

"18 games? 2 bye weeks," in an April post on X.

The league cannot expand the number of games in a season without the NFLPA's permission before the present CBA expires after the 2030 season.

Given that two of the NFL's top quarterbacks, Burrow and Mahomes, only want an 18-game season if they are granted an extra bye, it seems likely that the NFLPA will request the same thing when they start talks with the league.