Goodell eyes 18-game slate
Eliminating one week of preseason games, adding a week to the 17-game regular season and bumping the Super Bowl to a three-day weekend in February are all part of the long-term outlook of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
Goodell said Friday in an interview with ESPN that the NFL could expand the league calendar.
“I think we’re good at 17 now. We’re looking at how we continue. I’m not a fan of the preseason. I don’t think we need three preseason games anymore,” Goodell said on The Pat McAfee Show. “I don’t buy it. I’d rather replace a preseason game with a regular season any day. That’s just picking quality, right? If we got to 18 (regular-season games) and two (preseason games per team), that’s not an unreasonable thing.
“The other thing that does: (the Super Bowl) ends up on Presidents’ Day weekend, which is a three-day weekend.”
Previous attempts to push the regular season beyond the current 17 games – increased from 16 in 2021 – were met with stiff resistance by the NFLPA in recent years. In 2018, then-NFLPA president Eric Winston called Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ plan for 18 games as a “safer” alternative to four preseason weeks laughable.
The following offseason, the NFL and NFLPA held discussions about an 18-game season with players having a maximum participation allowance of 16 games. That plan also included the potential for adding a second bye week for every team.
NFL
Trade offers for wide receiver Deebo Samuel could fetch the San Francisco 49ers a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, according to multiple reports.
The two teams at the center of the bidding prior to the start of the second round of the 2024 draft on Friday were AFC East rivals Buffalo and New England, NFL Network and The Athletic reported.
NFL Network reported the Patriots and 49ers engaged in conversations around Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk during the NFL Scouting Combine, but compensation was a sticking point.
Eagles’ Brown lands extension: Philadelphia Eagles star wide receiver A.J. Brown agreed to a three-year, $96 million extension, with $84 million in guaranteed money, per multiple media reports Thursday.
The Eagles announced the agreement Thursday but did not release monetary details.
At $32 million per season, Brown would be the highest paid receiver in the NFL and is under contract with the Eagles through 2029.
MLB
The Atlanta Braves reinstated second baseman Ozzie Albies from the 10-day injured list on Friday.
He landed on the shelf April 16 with a broken big toe, sustained when he was hit by a pitch on the right foot the previous day.
Orioles send Holliday down: The Baltimore Orioles optioned struggling infielder Jackson Holliday to Triple-A Norfolk on Friday.
Holliday, 20, is just 2 for 34 (.059) with one RBI and 18 strikeouts in 10 games since making his major-league debut on April 10.
— Wire Reports