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Potential 18-game NFL schedule would have major effect on conferences’ top seeds

Story byOrlando SilvaFri, February 20, 2026 at 5:57 PM UTC·2 min readAfter another successful season, the NFL continues to study different ways to give fans a better show. The 18-game regular season schedule has been a possibility for a couple of years now, although not many players are fans of it. MORE: How NFL teams could make over $600 million each per seasonLeague officials and the NFLPA will discuss the situation in the coming months. The NFL reportedly has several options to launch the new calendar, which would impact the playoffs.

Potential 18-game NFL schedule would have major effect on conferences’ top seeds

Credit: Yahoo

Key Highlights

  • Jason LaCanfora of Sportsboom. com explains that the league would eliminate one preseason game and add a second bye week to allow players more rest. Nov 30, 2017; Arlington, TX, USA; General overall view of AT&T Stadium with the Dallas Cowboys logo on the video board during an NFL football game between the Washington Redskins and the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.
  • Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY SportsAdditionally, an extra game would alter the playoff structure.
  • The top seeds wouldn’t have an extra bye week anymore. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“All of this is obviously very preliminary, but I don’t think the structure of the playoffs would change in a significant sense,” a league source said.“The most likely outcome would be that no team receives an extra playoff bye, the top teams in each conference would play on the first weekend.
  • So there wouldn’t be an extra week of the playoffs, but those teams playing on the opening weekend would create additional inventory.”MORE: Every NFC teams final NFL report card grade from A+ to FThe NFLPA still needs to agree to a new NFL scheduleThe NFLPA logo at press conference at the Super Bowl LIX media center at the Ernest N.
  • Morial Convention Center.
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Sources

  1. Potential 18-game NFL schedule would have major effect on conferences’ top seeds

This quick summary is automatically generated using AI based on reports from multiple news sources. The content has not been reviewed or verified by humans. For complete details, accuracy, and context, please refer to the original published articles.

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