George Kittle is pushing back against the NFL's plan for an 18-game season. The All-Pro tight end warned that the expansion risks alienating fans and compromising player safety.

In a conversation with Baker Machado of Front Office Sports News, the San Francisco 49ers’ tight end talked about what changes the league should make to the schedule and contracts. 

“For me, it's like, you can't keep doing this because the game's hard enough as it is,” the 32-year-old said. 

The NFL switched from 16 to 17 games in 2021 and has shared its plans, widely agreed upon by NFL owners, to add another game. Kittle is open to the expansion if his two non-negotiable demands are met. He reiterated them to Machado.

“Number one, you got to have an extra bye, the season's too long as it is,” he said on May 28. “The one thing that didn't really make sense to me is…they added the 17th game, and you don't get paid any more money. If you just bumped up the payment a little bit for that last game…I think guys would be more interested.”

Currently, each NFL team gets just one Bye Week. As for the payment, 2021 reports indicated the players’ revenue was expected to rise. ESPN noted that players' share of league revenue was scheduled to rise to 48% from 47% starting with the 2021 league year. 

This was made possible because of the “media kicker.” Essentially, it meant that the players’ share of revenue could increase depending on how much TV deals worth. However, those promising plans fizzled away.

At present, the NFL is under a probe by the Department of Justice to investigate if the league has violated anticompetitive practices with its television contracts that force consumers to pay a subscription fee to watch some games. 

“I don't want to overdo football to people. I think making it special means a lot. But again, I get it. You get a game on Amazon Prime, on Netflix, Peacock, all that. But I don't want people to get fed up with streaming football too many times,” he told FOS News.

Apart from these significant issues, Kittle also addressed another pressing matter.

An Injured George Kittle Advocates For Better Rest For NFL Players

Kittle remains a leading advocate for a second bye week to mitigate the physical toll of an expanded schedule. His concerns remain the same, which he brought up in an interview with FOS.

“And if you look back to last year, the amount of players who were hurt, it was actually insane. Let’s take care of the guys a little bit here.”

According to Sportrac in 2025, over 607 players across all teams were injured. The Los Angeles Rams had seven injured players, the least and the Arizona Cardinals led with 32 injured players. 

Kittle himself is categorized as questionable after he sustained a major injury post-season. He tore his right Achilles tendon during the San Francisco 49ers' NFC Wild Card playoff victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in January.

However, the tight-end is aiming to return in the season opener held in Australia this year. Will the NFL listens to Kittle’s grievances and works on them? What are your thoughts? Tell is in the comments. 

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Written by

Akanksha Biradar