The NFL is considering expanding the season from its current 17-game schedule to 18 games in the future, possibly as soon as 2025. Commissioner Roger Goodell has expressed interest in increasing the regular season, and owners are in alignment with his desires.
However, expanding an already-grueling 17 game season is not something that most players are in favor of despite the league, owners and fans seeing the benefits.
NFL Defensive End Stephen Weatherly Isn’t A Fan Of Expanding NFL Season To 18 Games
Former NFL defensive end Stephen Weatherly, who starred at Vanderbilt and was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in 2016, joined The Shadow League “Locker Room” podcast to express his confusion with this possible expansion of games by the NFL, a league that has touted itself for changes in rules and regulations in regard to limiting concussions and other forms of player safety.
“I absolutely hate it,” said Weatherly, who also played for the Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and Cleveland Browns before retiring in 2022 due to injury. “I was actually a player rep for each of the teams I played on in the league. So I represented that particular team when it came to decisions for the NFLPA. So I was there for the CBA when we renegotiated in 2020 during COVID. That’s when they wanted us to go to 20 games.”
Weatherly says the NFL is all about exploiting players for as much cash as possible and player safety is still extremely low on the priority list judging by the rapid expansion of the season from 16 games to a possible 18 games in a span of five seasons. One NFL GM mentioned to reporters that the season would be a “bloodbath” if expanded to 18 games.
Weatherly mentioned that as early as 2020, the league was trying to drastically expand the total number of games, including preseason. Back in April of 2024, Goodell was still scheming and told reporters: “if we got to 18 and 2, that’s not necessarily an unreasonable thing,” he said in an ESPN interview. “I’m not a fan of preseason,” also adding that Presidents’ Day weekend would be an ideal weekend for the Super Bowl.
Weatherly Says Owners Don’t Care About NFL Players’ Health and Safety, Just Money
Then in May, Goodell stressed that player safety would factor in the decision and of course with the current collective bargaining agreement ending in 2030, cooperation from the NFLPA to expedite the expansion would be needed.
“The key thing for us is looking at making sure we continue to do the things that make our game safer — 17 games is a long season, so we want to make sure we look at that and make sure that we continue the safety efforts,” Goodell said back in May.
Weatherly tells “The Locker Room” that Goodell’s double talk doesn’t change the reality of the situation.
“The owners don’t really care about the players from a health standpoint.” Weatherly said bluntly. “They said let’s move the regular season to 20 games and they also wanted to cut benefits for past players; a group which I am a part of now.“
“So for both of those things to happen simultaneously is clear. I know where you stand when it comes to player safety — both current and former – so, no. … It’s very disrespectful in my opinion, I don’t think it should happen. I think it’s trending in the wrong direction if you’re talking about player safety,” he warned.
There are various factors to consider beyond player safety, such as player support and adjustments to the regular season calendar, and alterations to players’ contract incentives.
Weatherly Says Expanding To 18-Game Season Requires More Bye Weeks
Goodell believes shortening the preseason to just two games, while expanding the regular season to 18 games should satisfy all parties involved.
“If it were to happen, then you gotta throw in extra bye weeks,” Weatherly said, concerned for the physical and mental safety of his NFL family. “If you’re going to force another game on these guys for this money then cool. I’m sure the fans would love more opportunities to cheer on whomever, but as a player… I’m going to need extra time to heal and bounce back. The whole football season is just going to be a longer thing, which I don’t think the fans will be upset about.
“But you talk about wear and tear?”
“Yeah,” Locker Room host and former NFL running back Jonathan Wells added, “That’s doing too much.”
