The NFL competition committee expects to present a resolution to owners that includes a 16-team playoff scenario in the event games are lost because of the coronavirus pandemic, league sources told ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.
The contingency plan — which could become more likely as bye weeks disappear — would feature eight playoff teams from each conference.
The competition committee met via video conference Monday, according to sources.
The contingency, if necessary, would take four division champions and four wild-card teams from both the AFC and NFC. The playoff seeds would be 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5.
NFL team owners already had approved a plan in March to expand the postseason to 14 teams beginning with the 2020 season. That plan increased the number of wild-card teams per conference to three, up from two.
Information from ESPN’s Kevin Seifert was used in this report.
