NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell has changed his tune. Wisely.

Last year, Howell said this about the possibility of expanding to an 18-game regular season: “It sounds attractive. Who doesn’t want to see more football, myself included?”

On Wednesday, Howell made it clear that plenty don’t want to see more football. “Right now when I have talked to players over the last two seasons, no one wants to play an 18th game,” Howell said at the NFLPA’s annual press conference. “No one. 17 games, for many of the guys, is too long.”

Obviously, the two statements don’t mesh. It’s impossible to reconcile the nonchalance about more football from last year with the claim that, over two seasons, no player wants to add another game.

Still, it wasn’t a mistake. It was a strategic reversal. It’s a realization that, to get the best possible deal for an agreement to add another regular-season game, the union’s message needs to be far closer to “never ever” than “whatever.”

That’s how collective bargaining works, especially if the NFL wants to get the players to agree to add a game before the current CBA expires and the owners threaten/promise to lock the players out until they cry “uncle” on expansion. (And the owners surely believe they will.)

Howell’s shift came a day after Commissioner Roger Goodell tried to downplay the league’s desire to add another game sooner than later. Regardless, we’ve reported that the NFL has a “laser focus” to get an agreement to add another game by the end of the year. And if that becomes part of CBA negotiations, so be it.

The CBA can be extended or rewritten at any time. For now, the league has strategically created the impression that it’s in no hurry, even if it is. And the union has strategically created the impression that it doesn’t want 18 games, even if it will eventually relent.

It’s all about posturing for the best deal. At some point, there will be 18 games. The questions are this: (1) when will they begin?; and (2) how much will the league give up to get an extra game?