NFL players and owners have expressed an openness to expanding the playoff field from 12 to 14 teams -- a change that would help offset revenue lost by cutting the preseason to three games, which is considered likely as the sides begin another bargaining session Monday in Chicago, according to numerous sources familiar with the talks.

An expanded playoff format has not yet been formally proposed in bargaining, nor has expanding the regular season to 17 or 18 games, which players continue to oppose. It's possible the preseason could be shortened even without adding regular season or postseason games. But sources say that adding two playoff games remains squarely in the conversation amidst unexpectedly positive dialogue that continued to yield progress in staff meetings last week on secondary issues such as current and retired player benefits, player health, and safety.


http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...a-talks-resume

This is the possible scenario for the playoff format that I found. Only one team in each conference would get a bye....



In a 14-team playoff model, 7 teams from the NFC and AFC make the playoffs instead of 6. The only major repercussion from this is that there would be 3 wildcard teams instead of 2, and only 1 team can get a bye week. That means in wildcard weekend, #2 plays #7, 3 plays 6, 4 plays 5. Still, after wildcard weekend, matchups are based on highest seed vs. lowest seed.

All in all, here are the benefits to a 7-team playoff.

Since there would only be 1 team with a bye week in each conference, last week is more competitive since teams likely won’t be guaranteed a bye week to that point. Thus, the league is actually more competitive among top teams. Essentially, teams are incentivized even more to become #1 seed.
7 teams instead of 6 would only add 2 extra games to the schedule, but not an extra week. After wildcard weekend, there would be 8 teams left in the playoffs, just as there are now in the current playoff format of 12 teams.
While 6 teams from each conference ensures a competitive playoff system, 7 from each conference would still be less than 50% of teams in the playoffs. Other than the MLB (10/30 teams make the playoffs), Major American sports leagues have more than half of their teams make the playoffs! The competitiveness of the playoffs would still be superb despite widening the field.

Let’s use this year’s Playoffs as an example scenario: (WC stands for wild card team)

AFC PLAYOFF TEAMS:
1 (West champs, BYE) - Chiefs (12-4)
2 (East champs, vs. WC3) - Patriots (11-5)
3 (South champs, vs. WC2) - Texans (11-5)
4 (North champs, vs. WC1) - Ravens (10-6)
5 (WC1, vs. #4) - Chargers (12-4)
6 (WC2, vs. #3) - Colts (10-6)
7 (WC3, vs. #2) - Steelers (9-6-1)

NFC PLAYOFF TEAMS:
1 (South champs, BYE) - Saints (13-3)
2 (West champs, vs. WC3) - Rams (13-3)
3 (North champs, vs. WC2) - Bears (12-4)
4 (East champs, vs. WC1) - Cowboys (10-6)
5 (WC1, vs. #4) - Seahawks (10-6)
6 (WC2, vs. #3) - Eagles (9-7)
7 (WC3, vs. #2) - Vikings (8-7-1)
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