Joe Flacco has played 209 games in his career, and he’s back with the Bengals this year at the age of 41. He has managed to keep going despite the wear and tear of 18 NFL seasons, but he has concerns about the season getting longer.
Flacco said that with NFL owners wanting to add a game to the regular season, he questions whether the 18-game season will turn into 20, and then 22, and whether the constant desire for more money will hurt the players, and the product on the field.
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“It’s got to stop at some point,” Flacco told Front Office Sports. “What happens when we go to 18? Are they going to want 20? Are they going to want 22? We used to play 14 games before I was born. At some point it has to stop.”
Flacco said that he thinks players will eventually go along with the longer season and the more money that will come with it.
“If we’re asked to play 18 games, I think you’re not going to see much difference, and it looks like we’re probably eventually going to play 18 games, and we’ll just have to do it, and it is what it is,” Flacco said. “The revenue’s going to go up, and the salary cap is going to go up, and over time you are going to be making more money.”
Flacco thinks the quality of the playoffs has already been hurt by playing 17-game seasons.
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“Ultimately it seems like we’re going to go there and we’re going to be able to do it,” Flacco said. “As a player I loved playing 16 games, and I think the NFL had an awesome formula for 16 games and four rounds of playoffs and it was super competitive. I don’t think people realize when you put guys through an 18-game regular season schedule, I think what could happen is the playoffs start to suffer. Teams are so beat up by that point in the year that they’re not at their best, so instead of getting top-level football you’re getting a couple teams going against each other at 75 percent.”
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