NFL winners and losers:
With no preseason, Drew Brees, Bill Belichick and established teams benefit; what about the first-year head coach, the rookie and the QB fighting for a job?
Preseason.
For many NFL players, it’s an annual scourge to be weathered on the way to the games (and paychecks) that really count. However, for some veterans, playing in August means the chance to be vindicated and extend a career. For many lowprofile rookies, it may represent the only opportunity to get noticed and steal a roster spot.
“I know a lot of players didn’t look forward to the preseason,” Hall of Fame running back Terrell Davis recalled on NFL Network this week. “But remember, this is how I got my shot (in) 1995 as a rookie coming in in the sixth round.”
Before becoming a 2,000yard rusher and league MVP for the Denver Broncos, Davis actually made his maiden professional impression with a highlight-reel special teams tackle in an exhibition game played in Tokyo.
“How is a guy who is a lateround draft pick or undrafted free agent, how are they gonna make their mark now?” he wonders given the 2020 preseason will be wiped off the league calendar due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But that’s reality with players fighting for a longer physical acclimation period during training camp following a virtual offseason that prevented many from accessing sufficient workout facilities. The NFL Players Association also felt playing games in August posed an unnecessary risk to a league that plans to adhere to its usual 17-week regular season prior to the playoff buildup to Super Bowl LV in February.
Here’s who stands to benefit – and who doesn’t – as teams and players begin embarking on what will be marathon camps heading into Week 1 on Sept. 13.
Winners
Last season’s final four: The Super Bowl LIV champion Kansas City Chiefs, NFC champion San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers and Tennessee Titans – the latter two lost in the conference championship game round – all return largely intact from front office, coaching and personnel perspectives. Sure, the Titans lost stellar RT Jack Conklin in free agency, and the Packers might not have done enough to upgrade QB Aaron Rodgers’ array of offensive weapons. But these teams should reap relative gains from the continuity factor that so often distinguishes good NFL franchises from bad ones.
Drew Brees: The New Orleans Saints’ quarterback, who angered several of his Black teammates by reviving the national anthem controversy following George Floyd’s death, will get a month-plus to patch up any strained relationships for a team that otherwise appears primed for a title run. The Saints are so confident in their program and core of talented veterans, they decided in April to cancel their offseason activities entirely.
New England Patriots: Does any organization seem better steeled to weather a plague ... even if it just divorced the greatest player in league history? Yes, Bill Belichick has to retool a top-ranked defense raided by free agency while integrating presumptive starting QB Cam Newton, who wasn’t signed before the virtual offseason ended, into the team’s fabric. But a legendary coach – one who’s gone 13-6 without Tom Brady since he supplanted Drew Bledsoe in 2001 – will likely embrace (and even relish) such hurdles.
Established players: These are the working conditions the union fought for. And NFL veterans already assured of starting jobs typically don’t play much in the preseason anyway, sometimes – looking at you, Rams – not at all. For them, this year may not feel different than most others from a competitive standpoint. For those working for coaches who prefer to blood their teams in August, no risk of a senseless injury in 2020. But the happiest vets will surely be the ones on roster bubbles or those trying to hang on to starting gigs – guys like Colts RB Marlon Mack or Cowboys WR Michael Gallup – knowing their
club just spent a high draft pick on a player at their position.
Baltimore Ravens: They won a league-best 14 regularseason games in 2019, riding MVP Lamar Jackson’s arm and legs, an NFL-high 33.2 points per game and a single-season league-record 3,296 rushing yards. They’ve since added Ohio State star RB J.K. Dobbins and, perhaps more important, upgraded a defense that failed them in the playoffs with veteran DL Calais Campbell and firstround LB Patrick Queen. The Ravens could be even better given the roster additions and the fact their opponents didn’t have a standard offseason to try to decode the Jackson-triggered offensive assault.
Losers
New coaches: Mike McCarthy (Cowboys), Ron Rivera (Washington), Joe Judge (Giants), Kevin Stefanski (Browns) and Matt Rhule (Panthers) would normally get an offseason head start on the competition as coaches new to their respective organizations. This year? They’re just now meeting most of their players for the first time. McCarthy and Stefanski at least inherit highly capable rosters, but infusing new playbooks, schedules and – most important – affecting a cultural shift will likely be highly problematic to execute on the fly.
Rookies: So many of them cite preseason as the time when they were baptized with their “Welcome to the NFL” moment by a salty veteran opponent or lined across from a next-level superstar for the first time. Not this year, when the 2020 freshmen will likely be spending most of September and beyond getting their bearings in the professional football landscape. And, like Davis mentioned, it will be especially difficult for bottom-of-the-roster undrafted free agents to distinguish themselves without the crucible of game action. Even worse, they might be waiting a year – or forever – for résumé-building game films that so often lead to future employment opportunities.
Joe Burrow: Speaking of rookies, will any team be more
reliant on one than the Cincinnati Bengals, who picked the LSU superstar and reigning Heisman Trophy winner atop the 2020 draft? Burrow is tasked with leading this team out of the wilderness, and he’ll be partially counting on fellow rookie WR Tee Higgins and 2019 first-round OT Jonah Williams, who didn’t play a down as a rookie due to shoulder surgery. Sub-optimal.
Quarterback competitions: The most closely watched will likely be Mitchell Trubisky versus Nick Foles for the top job of the Chicago Bears. But it will be waged from suburban practice fields with Trubisky likely to have a significant leg up given his familiarity with teammates and the playbook. Unfortunately for the Bears – and perhaps the Patriots, Washington Football Team, Los Angeles Chargers and Miami Dolphins (the latter two used top-10 draft picks on a passer) – picking the wrong guy in this environment means suffering bona fide consequences in the winloss columns.
New quarterbacks: As great as the Colts’ Philip Rivers and new face of the Buccaneers Brady, who’s arguably been working out with TE Rob Gronkowski and his new teammates more than is advisable, are, expecting them to rebound from subpar 2019 campaigns and immediately lift foreign teams into playoff relevance is a tough ask.
Newly anointed Tyrod Taylor (Chargers) and Teddy Bridgewater (Panthers) face even more daunting promotions, though at least Taylor knows his teammates while Bridgewater played for new Carolina OC Joe Brady in New Orleans.
Teams remolded by free
agency: The Jets have an overhauled offensive line. The Texans are moving forward with a new-look receiving corps that doesn’t include DeAndre Hopkins. And the Dolphins? In addition to an 11-man draft class, Miami committed nearly a quarter-billion dollars to free agents in the spring. Dinner may not be ready for a while.
Non-NFL economies: Locales that don’t have NFL teams but are used to hosting them in summer – Oxnard, California (Cowboys); Latrobe, Pennsylvania (Steelers); and Richmond, Virginia (Washington) among them – won’t get the fiscal boost that is probably needed more this year than ever.
New stadiums: The LA Rams and Chargers move into sparkling new SoFi Stadium this year, while the rechristened Raiders are set to debut in Las Vegas, home to brandnew Allegiant Stadium, aka the “Death Star.” Needless to say, opening a new yard (and/ or playing for the first time in a new city) would have actually generated legit preseason buzz. Alas ...