Kansas Chiefs of Kansas Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, was assured of expressing his opinion on the continued discussion between NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the team owners regarding an expansion of the schedule in a season with 18 games.

The savings about an 18 -match season would enter a collective bargain with players, and Mahomes is not very interested in the idea.

In an interview with CNBC, Mahomes insisted on his concerns about players’ safety, pointing out that more games risk more injuries, especially in the last half of the season when players begin to feel the brutality of the sport they endure weeks.

However, Mahomes also emphasized that if the schedule were to extend to 18 games out of his 17th, they will have to introduce a second week bye (when a team has no game for that certain week as a break).

“I think you will have to find a way to have more weeks, more time to spread,” said Mahomes. “I mean, you have seen the amount of damage that has some kind of accumulated there at the end of the seasons and you want to have the best players playing in the biggest games. So if there were a way to reach 18 games, I’m not a big fan of it.

The NFL, which initially had a 16-year-old schedule for nearly 45 years between 1978-2020, introduced a 17-game schedule for season 2021.

However, since 2021, damage across the NFL has increased significantly since the decision. While only a small portion of more injuries in 2021 (984) compared to the last year of 16 matches, which saw 940 injuries, the number increased drastically to over 4,000 injuries during the 2023 season.

While the shock rates dropped 17% this year in the NFL, thanks to advances in helmet technology, it is clear that other damage has been done and at a much more visible rate since the presentation of the 17 -match schedule.

In 2023, each team on average at least 50 injuries and two injuries per player. The numbers support the argument that an 18 -game schedule is a lot for players, and the NFLPA Lloyd Howell’s executive director believes will never be realized, saying “no one” wants it.