A 2019 study showed that the life expectancy of an NFL player is somewhere around 59 to 60 years of age, well below the average for average Joes or Joanns. In 2011, Michael Anft penned a PressBox cover story titled, “Led to Slaughter.”
In roughly 2,300 words, Anft skillfully took the reader on an expedited look at the life of an NFL player, what they went through during their career and the multitude of physical and mental difficulties they faced after their time in the spotlight faded.
This was brought back into focus for me recently, shortly after the Ravens celebrated the 25th anniversary of their first Super Bowl victory. To jog your memory, that was Super Bowl XXXV when the Ravens slaughtered the New York Giants, 35-7, in a vanquishing performance.
The celebration took place on Dec. 7 at halftime of the Ravens’ home loss to the Steelers. I wasn’t at the stadium that day, so I don’t know exactly the number of players on the field who surrounded Brian Billick, Trent Dilfer and of course Ray Lewis. But I was struck by the take of three or four friends of mine who were there. Each mentioned how sad it was to see the players — most of them in their 50s — struggle walking onto the field.
We hear from the commissioner of the NFL the week of the Super Bowl every year. As such, we recently heard Roger Goodell give his State of the NFL address.
To nobody’s surprise, Goodell discussed the NFL’s push for an 18-game regular season. The commissioner admitted that reaching that goal is not a “given” and would only occur after some negotiations between the NFL and the NFLPA on roster size, added byes and player safety.
That was met the next day with this from David White, the interim executive director of the NFL Players Association: “Our members have no appetite for an 18th regular-season game.”
I guess that ends that … sure! But first, a little history to give some context to what is going on here.
From 1947-1960, the NFL’s regular season was 12 games long. From 1961-1977, the regular season was 14 games long. Then from 1978-2020, the league had a 16-game season.
During the negotiations for the current CBA after the 2020 season, the league made a push for an 18-game regular-season schedule. The two sides worked out a compromise to increase the regular-season game total to 17, which has now been in effect for five seasons.
Back in 1994, the NFL’s first salary cap was set at $34,608,000 per team. By 2020, the last year of a 16-game regular season, that cap number had risen all the way to $198,200,000 per team. In 2026, the NFL’s cap will rise to $303,450,000.
Certainly, the latest five-year bump is not solely pegged to an increase in regular-season games. Along with that increase in games in the regular season came expanded playoffs. Still, the money that goes to the players doesn’t just increase because NFL owners are a benevolent lot.
The changes in media also play a role. Pete Rozelle, Paul Tagliabue and Goodell used to be able to negotiate with just three or four networks for the broadcast of games. The advent of streaming services such as Amazon Prime, Netflix and Peacock means the money players get continues to soar.
More and more, the NFL’s game plan seems to be to try to control the sports narrative for most of the calendar year — even when not in season. After the Super Bowl, we immediately move to the NFL Scouting Combine, then to the NFL Draft, then to the schedule release. The two-game window on Sundays was never enough. Sunday nights added another few hours to our game day. Then six or seven times per season we have Sunday mornings invaded by the NFL, with the introduction of games on foreign soil.
You’ll pardon me if when a representative of the NFLPA stands on his high horse and says the players have no appetite for an 18th game, I am a chuckling cynic.
Not only do so many players have sad and short career endings, they also all too often have endings that don’t see them or their families end up with the financial security that these players hoped to achieve when they sacrificed so much.
So, do I think this saga will lead to an 18-game schedule with two preseason games? Absolutely. The question is will NFL gluttony ultimately lead to a 20-game schedule? That’s why 15 years ago, we titled our sad story of NFL life, “Led to Slaughter.”
The average life expectancy of NFL owners isn’t 15 years shorter than us average folks. No, the players will ultimately get paid for an 18th game, and then they will pay it back in sad fashion.
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox
Issue 297: February / March 2026
Originally published Feb. 18, 2026