The NFL’s dress rehearsals are over. Now it’s time for the real thing.
You know, in like 10 days or so.
The final week of the preseason has come and gone, leaving a long gulf of practices and roster moves until the September 8 opener between the Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills or the Sunday action that will be the first official step to Super Bowl 57 for 28 teams.
This leaves time for some roster shuffling and depth chart alignment. The NFL cut-down date, where teams trim their preseason rosters down to the 53-man standard, arrives August 30. Teams will wheel and deal their way through third-stringers and special team contributors, but starting lineups are mostly set.
That means what we’ve learned in August will mostly hold true into September. There wasn’t much relevant action on display as teams wrapped up the exhibition season, but we still earned a little insight from joint practices and one last preseason game.