[Monkeydad]

Originally Posted by BigHairedAristocrat

I fully support eliminating two preseason games. Presently, a full 20% of the NFL's 20-game schedule is devoted meaningless games - its retarded. The players don't like it. The coaches don't really need it. The owners and fans hate it. So, its pretty much universally agreed upon that the NFL needs to lose 2 preseason games.

Now, if we get rid of two preseason games, there are really just two choices - 1. Leave the 16 game regular season and cut player salaries to compensate for lost revenue. 2. convert those two meaningless preseason games into two regular season games. Starters generally play about 6 quarters of football in the preseason anyways, so its not like they'll really be playing that much more.

Scenario 2 makes the most sense. Now, there are things to do to make the longer regular season less grinding on the players:

1. Every team gets two bye weeks. As a consequence of this, we'll now have 20 weeks of regular season football to watch instead of just 17. Football season is my favorite time of the year, so i'm all about adding a few weeks.

2. Increase roster sizes and/or allow the full roster to be eligible to play on gamedays.

3. Change IR rules to allow players to come back from IR during the regular season.

4. Provide some kind of incentive for playoff-bound teams to play starters during the final weeks of the regular season. My suggestion - have the last 4 weeks of a teams schedule be divisional games.

5. On the flip side of the previous suggestion, have the first few games of the regular season be non-conference games for every team. these games are less important from a tie-breaking standpoint, and should be played near the beginning of the season to allow teams to "Gear up" more for the "more important" regular season games to be played later in the year.

Rather than IR, change to a MLB-like Disabled List...with 4 and 8-week options where the roster spot can be filled with an active player? If someone is hobbled by a 2 or 3-week injury, they'll just be taking up an unused roster spot like right now. The IR could be retained for players who DEFINITELY aren't returning this season.