Simple question, would you prefer an 18 game season or 16?

[part-timer]

It would be useful to review injuries when the league went from 14 to 16 games. Neither side seems to be presenting hard evidence either way though which fosters the belief that it's all about money and any players mentioning injuries are just tossing out a bargaining chip.


This is a very good point and worthy of deeper investigation. As you say I am possitive both sides have the facts on the subject, and it is very suspicious no one has come out with the information.

 

[part-timer]

It would be useful to review injuries when the league went from 14 to 16 games. Neither side seems to be presenting hard evidence either way though which fosters the belief that it's all about money and any players mentioning injuries are just tossing out a bargaining chip.


This is a very good point and worthy of deeper investigation. As you say I am possitive both sides have the facts on the subject, and it is very suspicious no one has come out with the information.

Advanced NFL Stats: Injury Rates and An Extended Season

Here is a start.

 

[Frezo]

Advanced NFL Stats: Injury Rates and An Extended Season

Here is a start.

Thanks for the link. Like many other studies of this nature there are a lot of variables to consider. In this case an in depth study into the injuries themselves could be considered. Which injuries would be attributable to the cumulative effect of the physical nature of the sport and which would not could be helpful. For example the following could occur at any point in season.

Illegal or hard hit by an opposing player...
Adverse field conditions due to weather...
Equipment failure...
Freak accident... (see Welker)

OTOH injuries like Brady's stress fracture, sports hernias and high ankle sprains would become more problematical towards the end of a lengthened season. IMO there will be more injuries, but the ratio of injured players per game will remain mostly constant. I don't care if there's 16 or 18 reg season games. The league and players will adapt to an increase like they have in the past. I just want football next year.

 

[Titanium Coate Hanger]

Something that people aren't considering IMHO is that an 18 game season comes with tradeoffs. The players will want something for that, part of that will be a rookie cap. In order to compensate for a rookie cap, that means the max contracts a player can sign in terms of length will change for their first contract. What would have happened if Wilfork could have been a FA after three seasons?

In general, the biggest impact, IMHO, will be offensive lines in the NFL. This is a unit that needs time together and cohesion to be effective.

Who will benefit, IMHO, will be kickers and special teamers. If you have expanded rosters, a sidebar that will come with 18 games, you have to give the union jobs, some teams will carry three kickers, a FG kicker, a punter, a long FG kicker/kickoff specialist. Older kickers with reduced range might stay around longer. More roster slots means Special Teams coaches can more than a handful of dedicated special teamers and not be as forced to fill out the rest with rookies, castoffs and reserves. One dimensional players might get a little bit of a bonus too. With smaller rosters, you need to do lots of things well to stay on the roster, or lots of things at an ok level, because versatility matters. With bigger rosters, you can give a spot to a pure specialist who excels at one thing. Right now, on NFL rosters, the only lock for a non kicking/returning specialist is long snapper. More teams will probably carry a true fullback now that they have the roster space to do so.

With the erosion of O lines, the shortage of elite CBs, and defenses that are getting bigger and faster and rules that protect the QB, I think expanded rosters will shift more teams into the kind of pass heavy/spread type offense you see with the Patriots/Colts/Eagles.

 

[GostkowSKI]

I kind of think that an 18 game regular season helps the Pats. Their philosophy has always been to build a deep roster, i.e. the "We want our 25th guy to be better than your 25th guy, our 53rd guy to be better than your 53rd guy" quote.

More games will equal more injuries. The Pats would be better equipped to handle them with a deeper roster, the top heavy teams would not.