Upgrade 2008 R2 to 2016 with 2012 R2 Domain & Functional Level

Hi,

I'm seeking to understand whether the following scenario is a supported / recommended / possible upgrade path for AD DS.

We currently have a 2008 R2 domain (native) with around 20 domain controllers in a single domain forest. Due to potential issues with third party application compatibility we're not ready to jump straight to a 2016 functional level, but is it possible (and sensible?) to migrate all domain controllers to the Server 2016 OS, but only upgrade the schema and functional levels (domain and forest) from 2008 R2 to 2012 R2?

Thanks

Tony