NFL Notes: 18-Game Schedule, Officials, Phil Dawson

18-Game Schedule

• Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal reports that the NFL has proposed the possibility of playing 18 games, but limiting layers to appearing in a total of 16 games.
• Beaton mentions that extending the regular season by two games could increase league revenue by $2.5 billion, which in turn could result in $15 million per team in salary cap space to be spent on players.

Officials

NFL Senior VP of Officiating Al Riveron confirmed reports on Friday that the NFL suspended its full-time officials’ program.

“Unfortunately right now for this year that program will not be used,” Riveron said, via NFL.com. “However, like I said, we use our officials during the year, we take them out to the clubs, we take them out to meetings still, that program in a way will continue, not just by the name that we call it now.”

Phil Dawson

After hitting free agency this offseason following the past two seasons with the Cardinals, K Phil Dawson said he’s had “some back-and-forth” with teams looking for a kicker. However, the 44-year-old Dawson still hasn’t decided if he wants to kick for another season. 

“I haven’t made any decisions yet,” Dawson said via CrainsCleveland.com’s Kevin Kleps. “Every year, honestly, for the past seven or eight years, I come home in the offseason and assess where I am and where my family is, and then we all sit down and make a decision. We’re in the process of doing that again.”