Usually in the middle of February not a whole heck of a lot is going on in the NFL. However, the league and the players association are working on a new collective bargaining agreement with the current CBA set to expire in 2021. There have been back and forth negotiations from what owners and players want with the new deal. With these negotiations, we learned what the new CBA could look like, including a change to the current NFL playoff structure.
NFL playoff structure is about to be changed. Under the current CBA proposal, seven teams from each conference will make the playoffs, with only bye per conference, sources tell ESPN. It would go into effect this upcoming season. More coming on https://t.co/rDZaVFhcDQ.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 19, 2020
This new change from the current playoff structure is a part of the owners desire to expand the regular season to 17 games. Adam Schefter also notes what the new season format would look like under the new CBA
More details: Under the current CBA proposal that NFL owners are pushing for, the playoff field would be expanded to seven teams, while the regular season would be increased to 17 games per team, and the preseason shortened to three games per team, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 19, 2020
If both the league and the players association agree to a new CBA, we will see this new playoff format for the upcoming 2020 season. With that let’s take a look at what the new playoffs would look like using the 2019 AFC regular season standings.
In the AFC, the playoffs would look like this:
- Baltimore Ravens (14-2)
- Kansas City Chiefs (12-4)
- New England Patriots (12-4)
- Houston Texans (10-6)
- Buffalo Bills (10-6)
- Tennessee Titans (9-7)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7)
So under the new playoff rules, the Ravens would be the only team to receive a bye and not the Chiefs. So the three Wild Card games would be (2) Chiefs vs (7) Steelers, (3) Patriots vs (6) Titans and (4) Texans vs (5) Bills. Using the new playoff structure and the results from the AFC playoffs, this is what the divisional round would look like.
- (1) Ravens vs (6) Titans
- (2) Chiefs vs (4) Texans
Long story short we still get the same results even with one more team added to the equation. So instead of four wild card games we get six wild card games over the span of two days.
Here’s my problem with expanding the playoffs. You just reward mediocre teams who don’t deserve to make the postseason. That 7th seed will be a 7 to 9 win team that just gets an over .500 record. Does a 7-9 team really deserve to make the postseason? Yes there have been a handful of 7-9 teams make the playoffs, but those were rare cases. By expanding the playoffs you make it more likely for a 7-9 or 8-8 squad to make it in.
Listen I’m a Bills fans. Before 2017 Buffalo hadn’t been in the playoffs since 1999. Of course making the playoffs every year would be amazing for my team. But I also want making the playoffs to still mean something. If we expand it to 7 teams in each conference, that’s 14 of 32 teams that make the playoffs which is nearly HALF the league. If you want to expand the regular season to 17 games, fine. But please, don’t touch the playoffs. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
