Bengals' Joe Burrow explains unique idea for second bye week

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is among NFL players in favor of an 18-game regular season including two bye weeks for each team.

Burrow expanded on his thoughts while speaking with reporters on Tuesday.

"Eighteen games is definitely a big ask," Burrow said, as shared by Fletcher Keel of WLWT. "That’s not easy. Adding that extra game, obviously it'd be great for revenue. But I feel like adding that bye week, if you're going to have an 18-game schedule, is pretty critical for our bodies."

Long before NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said at the 2024 draft last month he is "not a fan of the preseason" and doesn't "think we need three preseason games anymore," players such as San Francisco 49ers star tight end George Kittle and retired legend Tom Brady spoke out against the league expanding the regular season to 17 games per team without an extra bye added to the calendar.

"If you keep that first bye week — some teams have that first bye Week 5, Week 6 — and then you’re going 12, 13 games in a row," Burrow continued. "That's not easy. Probably a Thursday night game thrown in there, too. That's never easy. So, those two byes are pretty critical."

While the current collective bargaining agreement that expires in 2031 prevents owners from again expanding the regular season without approval from the NFL Players Association, some believe the league could shift to an 18-game regular-season format as soon as next year.

The players could ask for a second in-season bye week and expanded rosters to accept the so-called "18-and-two" schedule as soon as 2025.

Burrow offered a unique proposal and suggested that the league could essentially shut down for an entire week during seasons.

"Maybe you could do something like: The first bye is kind of how we have it now, and the second bye everybody has it at once, and you make it like the Pro Bowl week, like an All-Star break for the NBA," Burrow added. "I don't know. People get paid a lot of money to have those discussions and make those decisions. But, we'll see how it plays out."

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk mentioned Wednesday morning that "the last thing the league would do is take an entire weekend off" during the regular season because doing so would leave networks without valuable programming for that week.

Burrow deserves some credit for thinking outside the box, but it seems unlikely owners will embrace a plan that could upset media partners.