SAN FRANCISCO — Despite a renewed push from NFL ownership to move toward 18 regular-season games, NFL Players Association leadership made it clear Tuesday that the players aren’t in support of an expanded regular-season schedule.

“Our members have no appetite for a regular-season 18th game,” NFLPA interim executive director David White said at the union’s annual Super Bowl week news conference, citing player health and safety concerns that come with a longer regular season. “… The 18th game is not casual for us. It’s a very serious issue. It’s something that comes out of negotiations, and nothing will move forward until players have the opportunity to account for all of those factors, take that into consideration and then through negotiations, agree or not to the 18th game.

“But as it stands right now, players have been very clear they don’t have any appetite for it.”

While NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said adding an 18th game was “not a given” at his pre-Super Bowl news conference Monday, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft spoke about an expanded schedule with certainty in a January radio appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub from Gillette Stadium.

“I want to tell you guys that we’re going to push like the dickens now to make international [games] more important with us,” Kraft told the “Zolak & Bertrand” show. “Every team will go 18 [regular-season games] and two [preseason games] and eliminate one of the preseason games, and every team every year will play one game overseas.”

As it stands, NFL ownership can’t expand the regular-season schedule unless the league and the players’ association agree to open negotiations ahead of the March 2031 expiration of the collective bargaining agreement.

On Tuesday, White and NFLPA president Jalen Reeves-Maybin echoed Goodell in saying there haven’t been any formal discussions or negotiations about adding the extra game.

“There’s 31 owners, they all have different agendas and opinions on things,” said Reeves-Maybin when asked if the extra game was inevitable. “… Maybe this is a way of them trying to influence. … We have not opened up any 18-game discussions. It’s not something that the players are excited about or really trying to press for. Then we put in a lot of work, and we put out a good product out there every year and it’s not something we feel the need for.”

White added: “An arbitrary statement carries no weight. It’s a free country. People could say what they like, but … is it increasingly inevitable? … The answer is absolutely not. It’s a point of negotiation.”

Both White and Reeves-Maybin expressed concerns over higher injury rates that could come with a longer regular season. White pointed out some of the significant injuries that occurred late in the regular season and in the postseason this year. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes suffered a season-ending ACL injury in Week 15, while quarterback Gardner Minshew tore his ACL a week later. Cleveland Browns running back Quinshon Judkins also sustained a gruesome season-ending leg injury in Week 16, while Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson exited early against the New England Patriots in the same week with a back injury.

“It’s punishing, and we can see that on the teams that have deep postseason runs,” White said. “And we saw it this year. … Those injuries, they cost players pay, they can shorten careers, they can diminish lifetime earnings. And when your average career is already three to four years, that becomes something that is existential.”

Not only were White and Reeves-Maybin concerned about the impact of an extra game on players’ health and safety, but the pair also said inconsistencies in international travel was something they were monitoring as the league continues to expand its international slate of games. The NFL has announced nine international games in 2026, including contests in Australia, France and Mexico.

“It’s a seemingly arbitrary approach that clubs take to travel,” White said, while also acknowledging players were excited about playing on the “global stage.”

“Some teams will fly out days early, some will fly out the day before, some will stay near the practice site. Some will have lengthy commutes for the players after that travel when they’re getting over jetlag, et cetera. And then the games following and whether or not there’s a period of real restoration for their bodies, that, too, is inconsistent. … all of that needs to be accounted for if we’re going to talk about moving even further away or having more international games.”

Goodell added Monday that he hoped to have a 16-game international slate in the future.

“I think that’s an important mark for us to go for,” Goodell said. “I think we’re well on our way, with the desire we have from our side, but also the desire for people to have this in their communities, and some of the greatest cities in the world are asking to do this.”

In addition to the locations where games are being played, White and Reeves-Maybin also discussed concerns over the surfaces the games are being played on as it relates to player health and safety.

While NFL executive vice president Jeff Miller and chief medical officer Dr. Alan Sills said the NFL’s data shows a nearly identical injury rate on artificial (.43) and natural grass (.42) surfaces in a recent news briefing, White said Tuesday “90%” of players prefer to play on grass.

“The data that we do have access to shows that the energy return from a synthetic surface is significantly higher than it is on natural grass,” White said, “which reinforces what players say just from their experience and from common sense, it’s just harder. It’s harder on the body.”

But when specifically asked about the complaints lodged by players about the rough natural playing surface at Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium, White added that the upkeep of the fields is just as important as the composition of the surface.

“It’s well-maintained grass,” White said. “Scrubby grass that’s full of mud or it is hardened by ice or what have you, that’s not helpful. It’s maintained grass. It’s the playing field that’s good for players and good for their bodies so they can play the game that we all love.”

The Memphis Grizzlies and Utah Jazz gave us our first major surprise of the trade deadline on Tuesday. Jaren Jackson Jr., the former All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year, is headed to Utah along with John Konchar, Vince Williams and Jock Landale in exchange for Walter Clayton, Taylor Hendricks, Kyle Anderson, Georges Niang and three first-round picks, according to ESPN. Those first-round picks, according to Jake Fischer, are as follows:

• The most favorable 2027 pick between the Jazz, Timberwolves and Cavaliers.
• The Lakers 2027 first-round pick, top-four protected.
• The Suns‘ 2031 first-round pick, unprotected.

While Trae Young was the All-Star to move in this deadline cycle, that deal was effectively a cap dump. This is our first genuine blockbuster of the 2025-26 season, one that drastically alters the course of the next several years for two Western Conference teams moving in different directions. So let’s dive into the deal and assign grades for both teams.

Utah Jazz: B

It was four offseasons ago that the Jazz traded away Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert and kickstarted a rebuild that is still ongoing. At a certain point, enough is enough. While Utah is still near the bottom of the Western Conference standings, there is quite a bit of evidence suggesting that they are ready to turn things around. Keyonte George has been one of the breakout stars of the season. The Jazz have turned away all efforts from opposing teams to steal Lauri Markkanen, suggesting they’re no longer interested in a long-term tank. Will Hardy is among the very best coaches in the NBA, and their defense was already due for a rebound next year when rim-protector Walker Kessler returns from the torn labrum that ended his season. It was time. You can’t tank forever.

Now, Utah’s league-worst defense will be led by one of the NBA’s best rim-protecting duos. While teams have long dreamed of using Jackson as a stretch-five and maximizing their offensive firepower, he has always functioned best as a power forward next to a bigger center. Jackson is a great defender, but not a strong rebounder or especially bulky in the post. This partnership should maximize Jackson defensively and make up for the defensive limitations of Utah’s group of younger perimeter players. If nothing else, their projected starting five next season is massive. The 6-foot-4 George should be their shortest starter, with the 6-foot-9 Ace Bailey now at shooting guard.

The pick volume here looks significant, but won’t impede the Jazz all that much. Remember, two of those picks are in 2027, projected as one of the weaker drafts in recent memory, and the third is originally from Phoenix in 2031. That means that once next year’s draft passes, Utah will once again have full control over its next seven drafts. The Jazz spent their surplus on Jackson, but still functionally have most of their own picks to work with.

The big question here is that pesky, top-eight protected pick the Jazz owe the Thunder this year. As of right now, Utah is in the No. 6 slot in the lottery and likely feeling relatively safe. Does adding Jackson change things? Will the team have to find reasons not to use him down the stretch? Considering the Jazz have been fined for violating the player participating policy in the past, it would certainly be in character for them, and let’s just say they haven’t exactly put their best foot forward lately. Silly season is approaching, and keeping the 2026 pick is paramount. If the Jazz lose it, this trade looks a whole lot worse. We just shouldn’t expect Utah to let that happen.

There are certainly questions here. What will it cost to keep Kessler as a restricted free agent? Suddenly, the Jazz have two max players in Markkanen and Jackson, and George is eligible for a rookie extension this summer as well. That’s no financial crisis, but it’s going to soak up most of their flexibility moving forward. That’s a risky place to be given Jackson’s history of injuries. He’s headed into his age-27 season next year. That’s a bit older than the rest of the core outside of Markkanen.

But there are very few players who do what Jackson does. Big men who can shoot and protect the rim are worth their weight in gold. Now the Jazz have one, and they frankly needed him to make up for their limitations on the perimeter. Utah still has a ways to go to reach the championship picture, but don’t be surprised to see them Jazz surge up the Western Conference standings like the Spurs did this year or the Rockets last. The training wheels are coming off here. The Jazz want to start winning next season, and now they have the tools to do it.

Memphis Grizzlies: B+

A rebuild has been inevitable in Memphis from the moment the Grizzlies traded Desmond Bane over the summer. Now, the Grizzlies find themselves in a somewhat similar situation to where the Jazz were when they gave up Mitchell and Gobert in 2022: sitting on a goldmine of future draft assets. That means a great deal to Memphis, because the Grizzlies are one of the best draft-and-develop teams in the NBA. They hit a home run with Cedric Coward last year. They’ve found gems in every range of the draft. Now, in addition to those picks, they’ll get a look at Hendricks, a recent lottery pick himself, and Clayton, who’s flashed a good deal of promise in his rookie season for the Jazz.

Really, though, this trade comes down to the picks. There’s quite a bit of variability within them, so let’s talk about each.

• The 2027 Lakers pick, just by virtue of belonging to Luka Dončić’s team, is probably not going to be great. However, we don’t know how aggressive the Lakers are going to be this offseason with a strong 2027 free-agent class looming. There’s a world in which the Lakers go all out this offseason, are among the best teams in the Western Conference and this pick is in the 20s. There’s also a world in which the Lakers are patient, wind up in the Play-In Tournament in a loaded conference, and hand the Grizzlies a pretty interesting choice.
• The 2031 Suns pick is the crown jewel here. Yes, Phoenix is playing very well right now, but five years is a long time. Devin Booker will be 34 during the 2030-31 season. The Suns have virtually no control over their own picks between now and then. If things go south, they go south in a way the Suns aren’t really equipped to recover from. Booker is not Giannis Antetokounmpo. Nobody is trading a haul for him in his 30s. He’s owed almost $70 million for the 2029-30 season. You could argue he’s just a bad contract.
• The swing pick is that 2027 pick that is the most favorable between Utah, Cleveland and Minnesota. The Wolves and Cavs, at least, figure to be quite good. The Jazz are more of a mystery. The Grizzlies are betting that the West is so good that they’ll likely still struggle to reach the postseason. The Jazz are betting they’ll be good enough not to regret losing that pick. It’s too early to say where that coin lands. Don’t sleep on the “most favorable” language here, either. Calamity can befall any team. If Cleveland or Minnesota gets bitten by the injury bug, especially in the flattened lottery era, this pick starts to look a whole lot more interesting.

So it’s too early to say for certain how good these picks are. What we can say with reasonable certainty is that the Grizzlies will make the best possible use of them. Even the seemingly weak 2027 class works in their favor. Think about how many draft classes have been described as bad in the past. Wasn’t 2020 supposed to be? It produced Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, LaMelo Ball, Tyrese Maxey and a plethora of strong role players. How about 2013? Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert came after the lottery ended. Even 2024, regarded as a historically weak class, has produced rookies who look a whole lot better now than they did 18 months ago. I’d be thrilled to have Stephon Castle or Alex Sarr.

When we talk about weak draft classes, what we’re really talking about, most of the time, is uncertain draft classes. Just because there isn’t one obvious megastar at the top doesn’t mean the class as a whole is weak. If anything, this uncertainty works in favor of teams like Memphis, that historically draft well even with late picks. Their scouting staff is better equipped to make sense of an unusual class than most, and the Grizzlies have shown a willingness to be aggressive for specific prospects that they want. Last June’s trade up for Coward is exactly why this deal makes sense. They had to give up a future first-round pick, but they got a potential star in Coward. Giving Zach Kleiman the ability to maneuver around a draft board should work out reasonably well.

There’s still an elephant in the room here. That’s Ja Morant. Plainly, there is no longer any reason to pretend he has any trade value. The Grizzlies got so much back for Jackson and Bane that they can afford to rip the band-aid off and trade Morant for the sort of cap dump that Atlanta got for Trae Young. It’s not even clear that such an offer is out there. But this era of Grizzlies basketball is over. It’s time to fully turn the page. Kleiman seemingly recognized that with the Jackson and Bane trades. Now, he’ll have to find someone to take Morant off of his hands as well.

Assuming he can do so, the Grizzlies are now a blank slate. And that’s where the last piece of this deal comes into focus. The Grizzlies, thanks to this trade, now have a $28.8 million trade exception. It is the biggest in NBA history, according to Bobby Marks. That exception makes the Grizzlies, without question, the most powerful cap facilitator of the 2026 deadline. They now have the ability to take on a very big contract, and be paid handsomely in draft picks to do so. That will only give the Grizzlies more ammunition for this rebuild. It’s probably going to take a few years of pain, but ultimately, this front office has earned the benefit of the doubt. They built a contending core in Morant, Jackson and Bane. It just couldn’t stay healthy. Remember, the Thunder went through the entire failed Kevin Durant era before they landed on the potential dynasty they have now. Sometimes a smart front office needs to learn from its first trip through the contender cycle so it can get things right on its second try.