The NFL schedule and playoff format could look a lot different in the very near future.
If the players and owners agree to a new CBA — which some believe could happen within the next week — it would reportedly come with some drastic changes that would totally change the NFL as we know it.
The first big change would come to the NFL playoffs, which ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports will expand from six teams per conference to seven. As a result, only the first place team from each conference would receive a first round bye, and wild card weekend will now consist of six games, rather than the usual four (three on Saturday and three on Sunday).
Schefter revealed that the two sides have already agreed to this change, and it should come into effect as soon as the new CBA is signed.
It is also being reported that the league is looking to expand the regular season to 17 games, while reducing the number of preseason games to three. However, this change has yet to be agreed on, and if it does happen, it wouldn’t be until 2021.
According to one source from ESPN, the revision to the playoff format has been “agreed to for a long time,” and there was little resistance from either side over that issue.
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Had the rule been in place for the 2019 NFL season, both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Los Angeles Rams would have been the seventh playoff team in their respective divisions, while the Chiefs and Packers would have been denied their first round bye and forced to play on wild card weekend.
