The NFL and NFLPA’s latest agreement did away with the 2020 NFL preseason.
While the union argued that having a preseason wouldn’t allow for an adequate acclimation period for their membership, there’s still a considerable downside to no preseason games being played. The most obvious is the damage done to undrafted free agents and players on the roster bubble. NFL teams often use preseason games to allow players to prove themselves. Sometimes all it takes is one standout moment on tape to solidify to a coach or evaluator that this player needs to stay. Similarly, that tape can be used to pursue other opportunities if a player is released during 53-man roster cuts.
When Chiefs rookie LB Willie Gay Jr. spoke to the media on Saturday, he brought up a less obvious downside. He would have liked to play preseason games in order to adjust to the speed of the NFL game.
“Oh yeah, I definitely feel like [the preseason] was going to help with us rookies especially with the speed of the game and just knowing that it’s a new level,” Gay Jr. said. “I just felt like preseason was going to be something to help us get ready mentally and physically. Now we just have to take what we get and just take practice seriously and treat every day like it’s game day.
Gay Jr. might have an advantage that others won’t have coming from the SEC, which is widely considered the top conference in college football. They play fast and they play hard. Still, even the jump from that conference to the NFL is a significant one. You’ll play against a lot of NFL talent in the SEC, but not a full team of NFL caliber players.
For rookie offensive tackle Lucas Niang, he thinks the challenge of no preseason games will vary on an individual basis. He’ll look to take capitalize on each and every repetition that he gets as a result of the leagues decision to cancel the preseason.
“I think it depends on how it goes for you personally, but I think every rep is going to be more important previously because you don’t have those preseason games to go and show your stuff so in practice,” Niang said. “You can’t make any mental errors or mistakes because they’re going to count a lot more.”
As a result of a lack of preseason games, we could see rookies brought along slowly compared to previous seasons in Kansas City. Mental errors always happen with rookies, but with limited repetitions ahead of the season, players could be more prone to frequent mistakes than ever before. All that players like Gay Jr. and Niang can do is treat practice with even more intensity, precision and poise.
[vertical-gallery id=73053]