Ward Says He Can See an 18-Game Season

Hines Ward covered a number of topics in an interview with the Post-Gazette, and from his quotes it sounds like he’s not all that against a possible 18-game season, with some modifications of course to other things like retirement and health insurance.

“If they do, we still have to go out there and play it,” Ward said in an interview this week. “It depends on how they do retirement plans. If you add two more games and talk about safety, you have to do something on the back end.”

What Ward wants is better and continued health insurance when a player’s career ends.

“We’d jeopardize our bodies for two more regular-season games so if they can do something special with health insurance I think the players will go for it,” Ward said.

“If they don’t do anything on the back end, a lot of guys question if they want to play 18 — if they even can. If they do add 18, you won’t see guys like myself and James Farrior playing this long. Only quarterbacks. The life span of running backs will definitely be shortened. If we have to play 18 games, along with that you have to take care of us on the back end, it’ll be all right.”