Roger Goodell has implemented a new scheduling rule. Instead of teams being limited to one Thursday Night Football game a year, they can now play two. Owners voted on the matter and the change was approved.
Only a few dissented, but the rule is coming. In previous years, a team had one shot at TNF and that was it. It appears the league believes the poor quality of the games is because not enough good teams played on Thursday.
That means teams like the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs are at risk of having two Thursday games this season. Reigning MVP Patrick Mahomes has already taken to Twitter to voice his displeasure.
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The NFL portends to care about player safety but turns around and makes it so that they have to play on three days of rest twice a year instead of once.
Thursday Night Football has long been disapproved of by players, but Roger Goodell and the league aren't worried about it.
Roger Goodell's TNF flex proposal: How will it impact NFL players
The new Thursday Night Football scheduling rules will negatively impact players. There's a reason teams ordinarily have at least five days of rest in between games. Playing on three just doesn't give the players enough turnaround time.
Now, they potentially face that twice a year, not just once. It takes a physical toll to play so early and many high-profile injuries have occurred on TNF.
Roger Goodell says the data doesn't show that, but fans will remember Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly crying after a concussion on Thursday and Tua Tagovailoa's scary injury last season.
The physical nature of the sport demands a lot of time off in between games. One's body isn't designed to take such a beating so many times so close together.
Thursday Night Football isn't good for players, but with this new rule and a mega contract with Amazon for streaming rights, it's not going away any time soon.
What is NFL Player Safety?
NFL Player Safety refers to the rules and regulations that are put into place to keep players safe. It's a wide umbrella that policies, rules and more fall under. For example, the NFL's Concussion Protocol is a part of NFL Player Safety.
The reason teams have concussion checkers and a dedicated medical team is because of Player Safety. Other policies fall under the same umbrella, too.