Troy Renck: Care about player safety, NFL? Junk idea of 18-game schedule in wake of new CTE study.

Troy Renck, The Denver Post on Aug 28, 2026

Published in Football

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DENVER — The recent CTE study demands more than lip service to player safety.

The NFL wants you to believe it cares about those in uniform. But not as much as it loves money. There is a reason no games were missed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hardly a week goes by where owners don’t hint of adding an 18th regular season game. Commissioner Roger Goodell tapped the brakes on the idea in April, but then undermined his own concerns by criticizing exhibition games.

“If you can’t do it safely for our players, we’re not gonna do it. And that’s why I would say it’s not inevitable,” Goodell said during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. “But, listen, I’ve been critical of our preseason. I don’t think it’s the kind of standard that we should be putting out there.”

The juxtaposition of those statements is why an 18th game continues to linger as a when, not if. What is the difference between an 18th game and shaving the preseason to two? Or 19 and one?

The simple answer is health. Games that matter are harder, more brutal.

Given the news released Tuesday, the NFL needs to permanently junk the idea of an 18-game schedule.

According to the report published by the British Medical Journal, at least one in four of the 878 NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 had the degenerative brain disease known as CTE.

Dr. Daniel Daneshvar, the study’s lead author, believes the numbers of those with CTE — it can only be diagnosed after death — are much higher.

The NFLPA reacted strongly to the report, sending an email to players and agents.

“The findings are a sobering reminder that football carries serious risks that can have lasting consequences for players and their families. In short, the study suggests that CTE may be significantly more common among NFL players than previously understood, reinforcing the importance of continued research, care, and support.”

No one can plead ignorance. Not owners, players or fans.

Players need to stand firm, and inform their borderline hapless union leaders that adding a game for more money is a non-starter even if a second bye week is implemented. It is not worth it to anyone but the owners who will leverage the extra inventory of games into higher prices for the TV contracts.

Unlike their predecessors from decades ago, the current players enter the NFL with eyes wide open. Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton told Sports Illustrated this week that “It’s a dangerous sport, it’s a collision sport. ... But from my perspective, I see it as I fall on my sword for people who have provided for me and people that I will provide for.”

There is no evidence, even with the study’s alarming results, to suggest that American athletes will quit football.

It is not going away. And neither is the violence, even with stricter enforcement, penalties, fines and Guardian caps.

But the study drives home two salient facts: additional regular-season games are unnecessary and lifetime health care should be provided to all players.