Kareem McKenzie: Why play longer for less money?

Giants tackle Kareem McKenzie, the team's assistant player representative to the NFL Players Association, has expressed optimism the NFL and the union will reach agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement, perhaps as soon as November.

But if there is a deal to be made, then there will have to be some movement on the owners' parts. 

"We’re optimistic that something can be done by November," he said. "We don’t want to wait until March."

The three sticking points: money, money and ... money. McKenzie says the owners haven't budged from what the players believe is an 18 percent pay reduction. (Owners have said that their offer amounts to a nine percent reduction).

Throw in the growing sentiment from ownership that the league will go to an 18-game regular season schedule, and things get tricky. 

"They want an 18 percent reduction, so what do we get from the pie with 18 games?" McKenzie said. "It's kind of like [the owners] winning the lottery and not paying for the lottery ticket."

"We'd play longer for less money, so what do we get in return?" he said. "All we get from the transaction is more wear and tear on the body and less money. It doesn't make sense."