NFL Playoff Changes Explained
By Michael Luciano
The NFL has decided to add a new playoff format into the CBA, and this one will do away with the traditional 12-team, 16-game model in place since the league expanded to 32 teams in 2002.
NFL Playoff Expansion
The new format will add one more playoff team from each conference. With seven teams, only the first overall seed in each conference will get a bye, meaning the No. 2 seed will have to play three games to make it to the Super Bowl. The No. 1 seed will also receive playoff pay despite not having a game that week.
The NFL Playoffs could be expanding as early as this upcoming season if new CBA is approved:
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) February 19, 2020
- 7 Teams From Each Conference
- Only One Bye Per Conference
(via @AdamSchefter) pic.twitter.com/T6jZQBzUsI
NFL New CBA
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and workers as they try to regulate working salaries, conditions, and other aspects of workers' compensation as well as rights for workers. In layman's terms, the NFLPA and the league will negotiate a written agreement that states what is and is not allowed as it pertains to how players' money, working conditions, and benefits are handled.
NFL 14-Team Playoff
Under these proposed rules, the seventh-best team in each conference would make it into the playoffs. That means the Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers, quarterbacked by Jared Goff and one of either Devlin Hodges or Mason Rudolph, would have made the playoffs last season.
we would've gotten a duck hodges and mason rudolph playoff game with 7 seeds last season
— charles (TBD) mcdonald (@FourVerts) February 19, 2020
Literally no one, not even Steelers or Rams fans, asked for that.
As rough as this new system sounds, it appears that it's coming sooner rather than later. Looks like we'll just have to adjust.