NFL Notes: 18 Game Schedule, Dolphins, Jets, & Seahawks

18 Game Schedule

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports that there’s a belief in league circles that the NFL still wants to expand the regular season to 18 games.

According to Florio, the league knows it can’t ask the players to expand the regular season to 18 games because of the safety considerations involved. However, they’re reportedly hoping to entice the NFLPA to offer to expand the season to 18 games in order to secure other concessions such as neutral arbitrations and a larger cut of revenue.

While that may be the NFL’s hope, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith told Florio on Friday that he just can’t see any way they would be willing to increase the number of games played.

“I just can’t imagine a world where you add two more regular season games at the end of a brutal season that we have,” Smith said. “Certainly there’s been no proposal from the owners about increasing roster sizes or doing anything else to make sure that players’ health and safety is first and foremost. I mean look we are still in the middle of or the beginning of an investigation about how doctors handled the concussion protocol for the first game of the season and it seems to me that if you can’t successfully pull off a Hall of Fame game and you have what appears to be enough evidence to convince both parties to conduct an investigation of the concussion protocol, [it’s] probably not the right time to think about adding two regular season games.”

Dolphins

• Ian Rapoport reports that the Dolphins plan on treating rookie RB Kenyan Drake as their starter this week, but they will still work some of their other running backs into the mix today against the Browns.
• Rapoport mentions that the Dolphins elected to leave Jay Ajayi home for their Week 1 game to send a message.
• According to Rapoport, running backs Damien Williams and Isaiah Pead missed a meeting prior to last weeks game, which led to them being inactive.

Jets

• ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that Jets WR Brandon Marshall (knee/foot) is expected to play against the Chiefs, but will be on a snap count.

Seahawks

Sources tell Jason La Canora that Seahawks QB Russell Wilson played through a Grade 2 or 3 high-ankle sprain last week.

Without an established backup on their roster, Seattle allowed Wilson to suit up for their game against the Rams.

La Canfora mentions that Wilson is feeling much better after around-the-clock treatment this week and was “far less limited in practice.” Wilson still isn’t 100 percent healthy but believes he can run the full scope of the team’s offense including designed runs.

La Canfora adds that the Seahawks will make more of a concerted effort to feature tight end Jimmy Graham this week.