49ers' Brock Purdy, Nick Bosa discuss possible 18-game NFL season

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is among players who seem to understand it's a matter of when, not if, the NFL will expand the regular season to 18 games per team. 

"If that is the case, I think two byes would be nice, that kind of thing," Purdy explained while speaking with reporters this week, per David Bonilla of 49ers Webzone. "It's a long season. You go through so much physically and mentally, everything. But, if we're going to extend it another game, I think another bye would be pretty nice."

San Francisco star tight end George Kittle previously campaigned for two bye weeks per team long before NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in late April that he prefers a schedule that includes every club playing 18 regular-season games and two preseason contests. 

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow mentioned earlier this month that adding a second bye "is pretty critical for our bodies" if the league insists on scheduling 18 meaningful games for teams each season. 

"There's pros and cons to it," Purdy said about the NFL potentially shifting to an 18-game/two-bye schedule. "I don't really know how I feel 100 percent on it yet."

League owners reportedly could push for the NFL Players Association to agree to an 18-game season as soon as early next year. The NFLPA must approve of such a change under the current collective bargaining agreement that expires in 2031.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk hasn't hidden that he expects the players to cave and accept the 18-game season whenever owners get serious about their proposal. Florio and others assume the NFL's ultimate goal is to eventually eliminate the preseason and get to 20 regular-season games per campaign.

"I don't know how many games they could just keep adding," 49ers star pass-rusher Nick Bosa said. "Yeah, I don't know. I don't know why one more needs to be added, but, yeah, it's not my job to [decide that]."

According to Jessica Toonkel of The Wall Street Journal, Netflix is paying "about $75M a game" for the right to broadcast a pair of Christmas Day matchups later this year. That alone says plenty about why an 18-game season is inevitable.