NFL: How Important Is the Bye Week, and Is It Fair To All?

The NFL is in the business of high impact entertainment, but in order to do so the NFL must keep it's players in tip top shape.  Throughout the years the NFL has extended it's season to the point players only have six to ten weeks off before the next season starts.

If your team doesn't make it to the playoffs or Super Bowl, the months of January and February are the only  down time that a player will have to himself before the next NFL season starts.  If your team does make the playoffs or Super Bowl you can have as little as three weeks before your off season begins.   March is a big month in the NFL, it's the time that players report to begin off season workout.

Off season workouts are the beginning of every NFL season and is the hardest and most important parts of a season. It is a time that players strengthen and condition their bodies for the upcoming months of physical hell they are going to go through.  When the season starts players want their bodies to be able to handle any physical situation that comes their way. 

During a NFL season players take ever little precaution they can to keep their body in playing form.  Sometimes that means lowering the amount of weight that you lift in the weight room or just getting to bed early.  Players take advantage of the down time between games so they can get as much rest as they can.  When the bi-week comes around coaches cut down practice time and give players two days off  during the week so players have time to heal their wounds and rest their bodies.

The bi-week is a very controversial subject between players because of its timing during the season.  Some teams get the bi-week early in the year and others get it late.  There is no way to please everyone when talking about the bi-week, if the NFL owner's union had it their way they would get rid of the bi-week all together giving the owners one more game to make money.

The bi-week will be something in the past before long, taking players off the field loses money for everyone except the players.  In the next five years the 18 game schedule will be the new face of the NFL.  Players can complain all they want, but the only true drive of the NFL is making money and a 18 game schedule makes for a lot more money to be made.  Unfortunately the best way to do that is to cut out the bi-week unless the NFL starts it's season a lot earlier or runs the season much later into the following year.

In the long run everyone is going to adapted to what ever the NFL throws at us, simply because we all love the game of football so much.  Players will keep playing and fans will keep selling out stadiums across the country no matter what. 

 Jarrod Cooper

8 year Veteran

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