Sep 15, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) talks with Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) on field prior to a game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow Agree on Key NFL Issue With Training Camp Looming

Originally posted on Cincinnati Bengals on SI
By James Rapien | Last updated Jul 11, 2025 11:27 AM ET

Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow are two of the best quarterbacks on the planet and are arguably part of the NFL's best rivalry.

Despite the rivalry, they agree on a big topic that could impact the NFL in a major way.

Patrick Mahomes believes the NFL should add a bye week if they go to an 18-game schedule.

“I think that you’d have to find a way to have more bye weeks, more time spread out,” Mahomes told Alex Sherman of CNBC. “You’ve seen the amount of injuries that have kind of piled up there at the end of seasons, and you want to have the best players playing in the biggest games. And so if there were a way to get to 18 games, I’m not—I’m not a big fan of it. But if there were a way, I think you got to add some bye weeks in there to give more time for guys’ bodies.”

That aligns with what Burrow said last offseason when asked about the possibility of an 18-game schedule.

"I think it would be cool to have the normal bye week schedule that it is now, have it spread out, but then, like Week 13, do like the Pro Bowl break where you’re doing the 7-on-7 and all the skills challenges like the NBA does," Burrow said on the Pardon My Take Podcast. "I think that would get more ratings for the Pro Bowl, and then it would also give everybody that bye week going into the last six games of the year."

The NFL has made it clear that it wants to go to 18 games at some point in the future. A second bye week would help, but that could also mean an earlier start to the season.