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Negotiations for the new Collective Bargaining Agreement are getting under way, and the word is that the NFL wants to restructure the playoffs by adding one more eligible team per conference. This would give us a total of 6 Wild Card games, with the 1 Seed having the only bye. I don’t really know what to think about that. On the one hand, I love the potential for an upset, and two more Wild Card games increase the chances that one happens. On the other hand, that’s darn near half the teams that would make the playoffs. I guess I prefer to go by the old idiom: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I just don’t think there’s anything wrong with the current playoff structure.
The other hot topic of discussion is the potential for a 17th game on the NFL schedule. Neither side wants to budge, with the NFLPA arguing against it in favor of player health, and the NFL arguing in favor of more money. The NFL is discussing a shift in the percentage of revenue shared with the players, increasing their current share from 47% to 48%, and dangling another .5% in front of the players to convince them to vote in favor of that extra game. That roughly equates to a $5 billion shift in revenue in favor of the players per Adam Shefter.
More on the transformational CBA proposal now on the table, per sources: As part of the new deal, players go from 47% share under current deal to 48% share at 16 games, and then to 48.5% share if they go to 17 games, shifting $5 billion of revenue to players’ side.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 20, 2020
Personally, I think that the players should already be making more than 50% of the profits since it’s the players that are risking their bodies here. The NFL continues to preach player health, but then they turn around and try to put more strain on said players by adding another game. I think a good compromise here would be to stretch the season out to the requested 18 weeks by adding another bye week. The NFL would gain more money from another week of meaningful football to broadcast, and the players get more rest during the season (preferably before a Thursday game). Seems like a win-win to me, but this is the NFL here, they rarely go the reasonable route.
On to those links...
Wake 'em up! @WakeEmupJeff903 talks the big stage, the back roads to the backfield and the bond among the #49ers running backs with @wyche89 on @nflnetwork. pic.twitter.com/vtiKqC1W74
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) February 19, 2020
- NFL rumors: League seeks to add seventh playoff team in each conference (Matt Maiocco, NBC Sports)
- Kyle Long says 49ers a QB away from a Super Bowl, wants to see Tom Brady land there (David Bonilla, 49ers Webzone)
- 49ers roster analysis: More receiver depth needed around Deebo Samuel (Matt Maiocco, NBC Sports)
- The 49ers have 17 impending free agents this offseason. Here’s the latest on all of them (Eric Ting, SFGate)
- Deebo Samuel pleas for 49ers to re-sign Emmanuel Sanders in free agency (Jessica Kleinschmidt, NBC Sports)
- Richie James was underutilized by the 49ers in 2019 (Jeremy Wohlfart, Niner Noise)
- 49ers roster recap: Running back depth in flux going into free agency (Kyle Madson, Niners Wire)
- Jeff Wilson Jr. explains why 49ers’ running backs are egoless, tight knit (Dalton Johnson, NBC Sports)