The NFL regular season currently consists of 17 games, and at this point, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before the schedule is expanded to 18 games. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has been very open about the fact that he would like to see the league implement an 18-game schedule at some point in the near future.
If the schedule is going to expand, the NFL is going to have to get the NFL Players Association on board with the move, which could slow things down, because right now, a lot of players are against an 18-game schedule, including Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs quarterback, who is arguably the face of the NFL right now, was asked about a possible 18-game schedule during an interview with CNBC this week, and he made his stance clear: He’s not a fan of it.
“If there were a way to get to 18 games, I’m not — I’m not a big fan of it — 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),” Mahomes said.
The three-time Super Bowl winner would prefer not to play 18 games, but as he noted, he’d be open to it under one condition: He wants to see the league add more bye weeks.
“I think that you’d have to find a way to have more bye weeks, more time spread out,” Mahomes said. “Because, 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 length of the season is written into the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which doesn’t expire until after the 2030 season. Due to that fact, the NFL can’t expand the schedule before that point unless the NFLPA agrees to it.
The Washington Post reported on July 1 that the two sides likely wouldn’t begin negotiations about a possible 18-game schedule until 2026 at the earliest. CBS Sports lead NFL insider Jonathan Jones reported in April that the earliest an 18-game schedule could be implemented would likely be 2027, but that’s only if there were no hiccups in negotiations between the NFL and NFLPA.
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Mahomes isn’t the only star quarterback in the NFL who wants to see more byes if the schedule gets expanded. Joe Burrow also said that more byes would have to happen, and if two of the most famous players in the league want that to happen, it feels like that will almost certainly be something the NFLPA asks for in negotiations with the league.
If the schedule gets expanded to 18 weeks AND another bye gets tacked on, that means the regular season would get bumped to a total of 20 weeks. If that happened, the Super Bowl would get moved to late February (assuming the NFL didn’t change anything else about the schedule).
To give you an idea of what a 20-week season would look like, here’s how the 2025 schedule would look:
- Sept. 4-6: Week 1
- Jan. 17-18: Week 20
- Jan. 24-26: Wild Card Round
- Jan. 31-Feb. 1: Divsional Round
- Feb. 8: Conference title games
- Feb. 22: Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is being played this year on Feb. 8, so a 20-week season would move the game much closer to March. If the NFL feels like that’s too late, the league could move up the start of the regular season, which would put the Super Bowl in mid-February.
The Week 1 opener has kicked off on the Thursday after Labor Day for more than 20 years, but if the opening week was moved to Labor Day Weekend, that would put the Super Bowl on the Sunday before President’s Day in most years. The NFL hasn’t played on Labor Day weekend since 2001, and it’s unclear how the league currently feels about making that move.
One thing that’s not unclear is how Mahomes feels. The two-time NFL MVP wants more bye weeks if the season gets expanded, and it certainly wouldn’t be a great look for the NFL if the league ignores its biggest star.
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Author: John Breech
July 11, 2025 | 10:21 am
