On Wednesday, Eric Winston was elected the new NFLPA union president and in an interview later in the day, he made it known that an 18 game regular season would not happen during his two-year term.
“I can tell you 16 to 18’s dead in the water, Winston told USA Today Sports. “I won’t let it happen. I don’t think any of these other guys are going to let it happen. It’s a safety issue.”
As far as additional playoff games go, however, Winston says that will depend on a lot factors.
“Now, if you’re start talking about playoff games, how is that structured? How is that worked out? What are we talking about here? How’s that other team getting in? I think it goes to a broad structure and it speaks differently than we’re talking about having 32 teams play two more games apiece,” he said.
“That’s a very microscopic view of one more playoff team (per conference), and that’s something that will be looked at and looked at hard by the players because there are some guys that might want it. But if it’s some broad stroke, then we’re probably not going to go for it.”
Winston seems to be firm and to the point with his views on the extra games as far it relates to safety. He also said that the player’s union has always been about fighting and that’s not going to change now that he’s in charge.
Winston, who is currently a free agent, received more votes than fellow nominees Ben Watson and Ryan Clark in a series of votes Wednesday at the union’s annual meetings. While Clark, who is also currently a free agent, was not elected, he will now be a member of the NFLPA executive committee.
