Kansas City Chiefs HC Andy Reid is a creature of habit, and despite the NFL making changes to the preseason, he intends to stick to his habits.
Typically, through the first three preseason games, Reid puts his starters through a bit of a ramp-up period. During the first preseason game, starters will get roughly a quarter of playing time. In the second preseason game, they’ll get a full half. By the third preseason game, he’ll have his starters playing through nearly three-quarters of the game. This way, the starters in Kansas City are best prepared to play a full game come Week 1 of the NFL season.
This year, the NFL has shortened the preseason down from four games to just three games with expansion to a 17-game regular-season schedule. Despite the change to the preseason schedule, Reid doesn’t expect that his strategy for these preseason games will change all that much.
“I’ll keep it relatively the same, that we went through three games,” Reid told reporters on Sunday. “Again, we want to try to get evaluations of the guys here.”
In previous years, Reid devoted the fourth and final preseason game only to players who were battling to make an NFL roster. That obviously won’t happen this year, but that doesn’t mean that Reid won’t get these players the snaps they need to properly evaluate them.
“Now there are cuts that take place every Tuesday after the games,” Reid explained. “So, you want to make sure that you’re not letting guys go that you think can help you.”
On August 17, the Chiefs will cut their 90-man roster down to 85 players. On August 24, they’ll cut the roster down to 80 players. Finally, on August 31st, they’ll trim the roster down until there are just 53 players remaining. At the end of the day, the team wants to ensure that they’re keeping the right 53 players at the end of these gradual cuts. Expect there to be some minor changes to Reid’s strategy to ensure that those players get a chance to showcase their talents and make the most of the work they’ve put in during training camp.
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