Chiefs could end up playing three Thursday games in 2023 thanks to new NFL rule

The NFL on Tuesday approved a number of changes for the 2023 season including the use of No. 0 on player jerseys, replay reviews on failed fourth-down plays and more use of Guardian Caps at practices.

One proposal that failed to make the cut (for now): allowing flex scheduling for “Thursday Night Football” games.

However, the league will no longer limit teams to one “Thursday Night Football” game on short rest. Some teams could place twice on Thursdays, according to multiple reports.

This is from the NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero: “The change would allow a team to play on TNF *on a short week* twice in a season. So doesn’t include the Week 1 opener, a TNF game after a Thanksgiving game, etc.”

Because the Chiefs are the defending Super Bowl champions, they are expected to open the season at home on a Thursday night. The good news is that won’t be on short rest.

But it could mean the Chiefs would play two other short-rest “Thursday Night Football” games and have a total of three contests on that day.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was not happy to see the NFL’s expansion of “Thursday Night Football” games for certain teams. He retweeted a report about the NFL decision with a face slap emoji.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was asked about potentially putting player safety at risk.

“I don’t think we’re putting Amazon over our players. We’ve always been looking at the data in respect to injuries,” Goodell told reporters. “I think we have data that is perfectly clear, it doesn’t show higher injury rate. ... I hear from a lot of players directly too, they love the 10 days afterwards. In fact they call it a mini-bye.”