AP

Texans coach Bill O’Brien is among the growing numbers of people around the NFL who thinks there are too many preseason games.

O’Brien said this morning on PFT Live that four preseason games is too many. O’Brien noted that teams cut their rosters from 90 players to 75 players before the fourth preseason game, then from 75 to 53 after the fourth preseason game, and he thinks it would make more sense to just have one cut from 90 to 53 after the third preseason game, and scrap the fourth preseason game.

“I do believe that if we could go to two or three preseason games, I do think that would help,” O’Brien said. “When you think back to last year, and we talked about maybe eliminating the 75 cut and just having one cut, I do think that would help. I think you go into that last game really know for the most part who your team is going to be. It’s difficult because you don’t have a ton of players available to you in that fourth preseason game. My opinion would be we could get it done in two or three preseason games, but again, I’m not in the decision-making role, that’s just my opinion.”

Shortening the preseason would seem to be something that management and labor alike could agree on, but there’s no guarantee that the players and owners will reach such an agreement any time soon. The owners make money off the preseason, and they wouldn’t want to give that money up — which is why NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has floated the idea of eliminating two preseason weeks but adding two regular season weeks. The players have voiced opposition to that.

So while a shorter preseason might sound like a good idea, it may not be an idea that owners will embrace.