By Jordan DeFigio, @fidgenewton
SteelerNation.com
No one enjoys the preseason. It's a string of one month's worth of meaningless games all leading up to Week 1 of the regular season. Scratches play for roster spots, backups play for positions on the depth chart, rarely ever do we see starters take the field and battle it out because, why would anyone risk their starters in games that don't matter? In a Covid-infected year however, NFL fans (Pittsburgh Steelers fans in particular) are looking for whatever they can get. And we may have just lost two more games of football. After shortening the preseason to just two games, the NFLPA voted over the weekend to scrap the preseason all together.
The union and the league are at odds on what to do about the preseason - its length and whether it should happen at all. But as training camps are set to begin in July, both sides are quickly running out of time to decide what to do about those games.
As it stands, the return to play involves different stages, the first of which requires physicals of all players at camp. The second stage would be made up of the following three weeks in which the players will undergo physical training and conditioning to prepare for the season. After that three week period, teams would enter the third stage which ideally would look a lot like OTAs. This month and a half period of time would lead directly up to week 1, replacing the preseason.
The priority of all players and league officials is the safety of those involved, and the outcome of this vote is not set in stone. But we may be looking at a preseason-less 2020 campaign.
What are your thoughts on the NFL preseason? Do you want them to play it out or skip it all together? Comment below #SteelerNation
