NFL players sure don’t seem to be thrilled about having an extra game on the schedule going forward, and Patrick Mahomes is no different.
The Super Bowl LIV MVP may not be the “face” of the league, as long as Tom Brady’s playing, but he’s likely on his way to earning that prestigious title, which will give him an unbelievably large platform to air his opinions in the future. And given that he’s already the top quarterback in the league, having won a Super Bowl as well, when he speaks — everyone listens; that includes NFL officials, other players and coaches.
So it was only a matter of time until he shared his thoughts on the biggest change that will be implemented in the 2021 NFL season — the scheduling aspect. The NFL will not only be continuing to play (meaningless) preseason games — three of them — but it will also extend the regular season to 17 games. Here’s what Mahomes had to say about it.
“I mean obviously it’ll be different and it’ll be something that we’ll have to adjust to,” Mahomes told Yahoo Finance Presents. “But it’s something that we had talked about in the collective bargaining agreement. Whatever your beliefs are you got to go out there and adjust, and do whatever you can to be the best football player you can be every single day. I’ll be trying to figure out ways to take care of my body more and more, so you can adjust your body for a 17 game regular season.”
Players have been aware that the regular season will be extended for quite awhile, but it’s likely that what they’re not thrilled about is still having to play three preseason games — and understandably so. The 2020 season had no exhibition play, yet injuries and performance weren’t really issues, despite the narrative owners continue to beat like a drum.
