I have mixed emotions about the recent flurry of announcements concerning possible changes to the NFL schedule in the near future. For those who might have missed the news, NFL owners and commissioner Roger Goodell want to stretch the amount of games each team plays during the regular season from 16 to 18.

The NFL Players Association made a counter-offer in which they proposed that 18 games would be feasible only if the rosters were expanded and there was another bye week added to the schedule for each team, giving every team two byes each.

Now, the way my twisted mind works, I immediately thought about the fantasy ramifications.

How would this schedule change affect my life, or lack thereof? After all, if both sides agree to compromise on this deal, which is by no means a sure thing but certainly conceivable, you’re talking about 20 weeks of professional football during the regular season, up from the current 17.

I’m sure there are many fantasy players who are over the moon about these possibilities. That was my first reaction. We wait for months upon months for autumn to come around so we can attend our drafts, destroy our fellow league members and bore the stuffing out of anyone who’s not involved in the pastime with debates over the relative merits of Olindo Mare versus Billy Cundiff.

Surely the opportunity to get our rush for three more weeks would have to be a good thing, no?

Well, maybe not so much. First of all, the degree of difficulty for comprising teams would surge considerably. It’s hard enough to keep up with several teams in multiple leagues while bye weeks are mucking things up. Imagine twice as many bye weeks. You couldn’t skimp anymore on your backup quarterback, and there’s no way you could ever get enough running backs on your roster. Those owners who use the “Screw The Bye Week” philosophy would be seriously up the creek.

Another major problem that everyone would have to deal with would be the possibility that more major players would be sitting out key games late in the season, simply because it would be more likely for NFL teams to clinch their postseason positions a little earlier. You’d almost have to draft two teams: An “A” team for the first 15 games or so, and a team full of scrubs for the home stretch.

The extra games would mean more injuries to key players as well, causing even more of a need for good depth. I think that the only fair thing for fantasy leagues to adopt would be something along the lines of what the NFLPA is seeking: Bigger rosters. In that way, fantasy owners would have a better chance to fill all of the holes in their lineups created by the expanded schedule.

Of course, that would mean less chance for free agents to be alive on the waiver wire for desperate owners to snatch up. Really, you’d just have to grin and bear the fact that, in some weeks, your lineup would be populated by guys who have little chance of seeing the field other than as special teams gunners and extra-point holders. Maybe leagues would have to start awarding points for such thankless endeavors just to prevent fantasy pitchers duels week in and week out.

Going back and forth will all of these scenarios, I can honestly say that 20 weeks of fantasy football might be too much, even for a hardcore player like me.

Not that I’ll ever quit playing, of course. I’ll just complain about it a little bit more.