Raiders Share Thoughts on Potential 18-Game Season

The National Football League has discussed the possibility of moving to an 18-game season. Multiple Las Vegas Raiders players have shared their opinions on the matter.

Dec 31, 2023; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams (17) catches the ball while Indianapolis Colts safety Nick Cross (20) defends in the first quarter at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports / Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Las Vegas Raiders have had a busy offseason and expect an eventful training camp. As the team takes time away before returning for training camp next month, multiple players voiced their opinions over the past couple of weeks on the National Football League possibly extending the season by an extra game.

Veteran defensive tackle Christian Wilkins had a leveled approach to the subject.

"You kind of see all sides of it. I personally just love playing the game,” Wilkins said. “So I mean there's parts of that where like, 'Okay, another game.' But you also see the health and safety of the players and just a lot of different things there in the business side of it, obviously. So there's a lot of different parts that come with that. But I've heard the talk. I know it's just kind of talk right now, but I'm sure if that's ever really a real thing, decisions will have to be made, or you have to look into it a little bit more."  

Veteran quarterback and new Raiders addition Gardner Minshew II had a similar outlook as Wilkins but viewed things from a business standpoint. Minshew noted that the players no longer have as much of a say as before the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, so players should prepare themselves for what will likely equate to extra games.

"Yeah, I don't really think about that too much. I think we kind of signed that away in our last CBA," Minshew said. "They kind of got that right from us, and I don't think they're going to give it back. So, we'll be playing more games and more games until we get a little more leverage to be able to do something about it."

Veteran wide receiver Davante Adams was honest about his thoughts on the matter. The All-Pro receiver is entering his 11th season in the National Football League. However, Adams has taken his fair share of damage while in the league and isn’t necessarily as excited about potentially playing extra games as he would have been in the past.

Still, he said he’s still a fan of playing more games if given the opportunity. Adams made it clear, though, that he’d prefer the potential extra games to be meaningful.

"If you'd asked me that ten years ago, I probably would be excited about it,” Adams said. Now, not so excited, but it is what it is. That's the thing that's special about football and why I really wanted to play football over basketball is that I just feel like it's a different type of feeling knowing that you only have a limited amount of opportunities out there.

“You bust your ass the whole offseason, come out here OTAs, you get dinged up when you're not even on the field. And then you get 16 opportunities, 17 opportunities, 18 opportunities, whatever it is. So, I'm always down to play more football, but it makes more sense when you're fighting for something, too. So, hopefully, we're not playing 18 games. That's obviously not the way to think about it, but that's the way you kind of have to. If we're playing more, it better be for a reason.”

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