from Matthew Cohen SNYGiants contributor

So we all know that the NFL owners want an 18 game season so that they can make more money.

The players don’t want more games and greater risk of injury for the same pay. Even if the owners gave them more money, a 16 game season is already very long for the players, many or most of whom play most or all of the season with nagging injuries.

There is a very simple solution. Play 18 games and force every team to give every player a game off in each half of the season. Players would play 16 games over 19 weeks (each team has an off week) instead of 16 games over 17 weeks.

Punters and kickers could be exempted as they don’t have much contact. You might consider exempting quarterbacks as well.

Now people will start screaming that this will hurt the integrity of the game because the best players don’t play every game. Nonsense. Baseball doesn’t have the best players play every game and this has been the case from the beginning. Starting pitchers only pitch every 5 days. People don’t complain if they see the Yankees and CC Sabathia isn’t pitching.

Also, football fans are already used to the idea that the best players may not play. Players get injured all the time. Injuries give untested players a chance to shine. Let’s be honest, wasn’t it fun to see Ramses Barden finally get his shot last year?

There might need to be a slight expansion of rosters. This might not be necessary though. Only 45 out of 53 players suit up each game. A few extra roster spots should do it.

Everyone wins. The owners win because they get more money. The players win because they share some of that money and play the same number of games with more rest during the season. The fans win because fans love to watch football and the only thing better than football is more football.