I don't think they are planning on starting earlier. More like extending into February. The plan may be to convert one or two of the exhibition games into regular season games.
Start the same time (Thursday after Labor Day), get rid of the stupid bye week, and finish the season one week later. I doubt the NFL really wants to start regular season games in August.
Though IMHO it would be better to just cut two preseason games and leave the regular season as-is. Playing meaningless regular season finales in January just doesn't sound right.