Everyone talks about 16 vs 18 but no one seems to talk about 17. Here is my proposal for what I would like to see:
2 Game preseason (enough for the rooks and bubble players to show their stuff)
17 regular season games ( one more to make the owners and fans like me happy)
2 byes during the regular season (this gives players one more chance to rest and heal up, plus makes the full regular season 19 games long)
In terms of scheduling, I would take that one additional game and make it always vs the same team each year, picking potential rivalries that make sense and that don't necessarily happen in current scheduling. A great example would be to make Rams/Chargers (AKA LA Bowl) happen every year. (Not sure what you do the year they play that team as part of regular rotation, maybe just play that team twice that year, adding to the potential rivalry-building nature of this extra game.) Maybe you even call that weekend Rivalry Weekend and market it that way. Other possible rivalries I would like to see annually - The Texas Bowl (Cowbos/Texans) maybe 49ers/Raiders. If you made all of the games AFC/NFC then you could keep score of which Conference won Rivalry Weekend each year. Giants/Jets would be a natural as well.
So there it is, make me Grand Poobah of the NFL and that is what I would do.
