Last year, the Atlanta Falcons were like most NFL teams in the preseason; they didn’t play their starters much at all. That seems to be the trend these days and, while it keeps starters healthy, it definitely adds to the already-mundane nature of these NFL preseason games.
Falcons head coach Raheem Morris was asked about the upcoming preseason opener between the Falcons and the Detroit Lions and he gave a predictable answer: Michael Penix, Jr. and Kirk Cousins won’t be playing. So, what was expected to be the slugfest of the century now looks like just another perfunctory exhibition contest.
Cousins didn’t play at all in the 2024 preseason and Penix got a few snaps in the opening game and then didn’t play again until the regular season. That’s par for the course and while some would argue that even the starters need reps, it doesn’t really matter since no one else plays their starters either. It doesn’t set your team back for Week 1 because virtually everyone will have the same rust.
How come no one plays in the NFL preseason anymore?
You can blame the trend on Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay. He was really the first one to say, ‘nope, I’m not playing my guys in meaningless games.’ He hasn’t done so for the last seven years.
Last August, Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer correctly announced that the NFL preseason has become an unmitigated joke.
“Meanwhile, 38 — yes, 38 — Panthers’ players skipped the game due to the coaching staff holding them out,” Fowler wrote. “All the Carolina starters sat for the second preseason game in a row and the Jets did much the same. Aaron Rodgers was nowhere near the field. Kids in the stadium wearing No. 9 Bryce Young jerseys had to instead be satisfied with watching quarterbacks Jack Plummer and Jake Luton, who combined — yes, combined — for 61 passing yards.”
The NFL has trimmed the preseason from four games to three in the hopes of sparing fans the same agony that Los Angeles Clippers‘ fans went through on a nightly basis 15 years ago.
“Simply put, the league’s exhibition season is irretrievably broken,” Fowler continued. “It’s been that way for decades, but is even more noticeable now that so many coaches have decided the risk of playing starters isn’t worth the reward of a little more experience. When I was a kid, the NFL actually had six preseason games. Then the league sliced it down to four, and now down to three. It should at this point be zero, with a couple of controlled scrimmages thrown in there somewhere. The preseason has become a joke, one with pennies-on-the-dollar value to fans and notable only for the occasional injury.”
Point out where he’s wrong on any of that.
The league is doing fine even with no one playing in the NFL preseason
Perhaps the fans, the NFL and its broadcast partners simply don’t care that no stars play in these games.
Should it matter than some three million tickets are sold to these worthless games around the NFL each year? Surely, television executives aren’t overly thrilled to broadcast games littered with players who probably will never see the light of day in a regular NFL game. You can look at the ratings of the UFL games and make an easy case that it’s a higher quality of competitive football with the same skill level as the NFL preseason.
Yet, the NFL seems to still do pretty well. Last year, the San Francisco 49ers–New Orleans Saints game did 4.63 million viewers on FOX.
And according to Sports Business Daily, via Pro Football Talk, last week’s game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Detroit Lions did nearly seven million viewers.
“Via Austin Karp of Sports Business Daily, the Chargers-Lions Hall of Fame game on NBC generated 6.9 million viewers on average for the broadcast.” PFT’s Mike Florio writes. “It’s the biggest audience for the Hall of Fame game since the 2021 matchup between the Steelers and Cowboys, which averaged 7.31 million.”
It’s not immediately known how many of those viewers caught the repeat of the game on NFL Network at 2 A.M. three short days later.
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