Steelers Ramon Foster open to idea of expanded playoffs

[Steely McBeam]

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The battle over expanding the length of the football season appears to be shaping up as one of the lynchpin issues of the ongoing negotiations toward a new collective bargaining agreement. While the idea of an expanded regular season has been shot down by pretty much anyone on the players’ side of the table, at least one NFLPA player representative is open to the idea of an expanded postseason.

According to Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Steelers player representative Ramon Foster said adding to the playoffs is an idea he could actually get behind.

“I’m all for expanding the playoffs,” Foster said. “Reward the teams that get the opportunity to do good.

“I would look forward to expanding the playoffs more than I would 18 (regular-season) games.”

Exactly what such an expansion in the postseason would like is uncertain. Foster didn’t have a polished proposal in mind. However, the thought was that more playoff games would mean more quality product being available without the potential dilution that would come from adding more wear-and-tear through the regular season.

“I’m more quality over quantity at this point,” Foster said.

Foster doesn’t want to expand the regular season and believes the four-game preseason is still useful for giving younger players the opportunities they need to show what they can do. With the exception of Bengals owner Mike Brown, there appears to be a concerted push from the league to add to the calendar in some form. The NFLPA is steadfastly against the idea of an 18-game regular season. Maybe an expansion of the playoffs is the middle ground where both sides can agree to additional games.