The NFL’s likely shift to an 18-game schedule has been a consistent topic of conversation throughout the offseason and now 49ers tight end George Kittle has added his voice to the various opinions on the subject.
During an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show this week, Kittle said that he’s OK with 18 games as long as players also get more rest.
“No. 1, it’s inevitably, first, going to get to 18 games at some point, right? And I think I’ve said it ever since we got to 17 games, I was like, just give us two byes,” Kittle said. “And it just adds an extra week to the season anyway — because instead of 18 weeks, now you’re at 19 weeks. So that’s another week of football that you’re on TV with all the ads and all that stuff. It increases the season and it gives guys an extra week of rest because you need that. It’s hard to play 18 games. But I’m totally fine with that, just give us two byes.”
Kittle added that he feels like a lot more players would be alright with 18 games if that change came with an additional bye week.
“I think when we did the CBA and we were like, it’s 16 games and 17 games was not ever on the table and then all of a sudden, it just was — I think it’s inevitable that the owners are going to [say], ‘Hey, this is what we want to do.’ And there’s gonna be some give and take,” Kittle said. “But if that’s something they really want to do, it’s going to be, OK, what’s the negotiation? What can we get out of it, too?
“So whether it’s two byes or it’s other things that we haven’t thought of yet, there’s going to be a conversation there. And as long as they’re giving guys’ bodies actual time off, because like I said, playing 16 games in a row is hard. Playing 17 is really hard. And then you throw the playoffs on top of it and now you’re going to add an 18th game? That’s a lot of football.”
Kittle also noted that he’s in favor of changing the current offseason program schedule. Kittle mentioned that most of it is voluntary anyway, but the format could be revised to give players more rest.
"[I]f you play throughout the entire playoffs — you’re playing in mid-February — and you’re supposed to show up April 15 for Phase I of OTAs, that’s pretty aggressive. Right? Like, that’s not a lot of time for your body to heal, regenerate … to let your mind and your body both rest,” Kittle said. “That’s not a lot of time. So, I’m a huge fan of — I’m totally OK to get rid of OTAs. Maybe not entirely or maybe it’s just the month of May. Or maybe it’s, hey, there’s a two-week rookie minicamp, or if you’re new to the team, you show up for a week or two in a current time period in May.”
Kittle doesn’t want to eliminate the effective NFL shutdown that happens around July 4, but he would like players to report for a mid-July ramp-up date with camps starting in earnest late in the month.
“I’m all-in for that because I think taking two months in the middle of the spring is pretty aggressive,” Kittle said.
“I think if you’re past Year 5, you’re in the league for a reason,” he added. “It’s not luck at this point. You have a good work ethic, you’re doing the right things, you can take care of yourself. You don’t need to show up and do two weeks of Phase I, which is an hour of training and an hour of film watching. You can do that via Zoom — we proved that during 2020. You can do it all then. If you want to have online meetings, I have no problem with that. If you want to go through install stuff, I’m always down to watch football and to talk football. But I think making guys go to a facility for two months and be there, I don’t know, I think that’s pretty aggressive.”