Report: Week 1 and Week 4 of NFL Preseason Scrapped
As the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19 continues to spike across America, the NFL will take extra precautions and cut the 2020 preseason in half according to a report via Pro Football Talk.
Week 1 and Week 4 will be scrapped according to PFT. This means that Week 2 and Week 3 will keep their planned respective dates and opponents. For the Jacksonville Jaguars, this means they will still play the preseason away game on August 22 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and August 29 at home against the Washington Redskins. The Jags will lose the first preseason away game against the Carolina Panthers and the Week 4 game at home against the Atlanta Falcons.
The preseason has long been a point of debate given that it provides little help to the primary roster players and if anything only increases the likelihood of injury. However, it is also one of the best shots for late-round draft picks and free agents to impress the coaches and make the roster.
The United States saw 43K+ new cases of COVID-19 on June 30 along with 613 deaths.
The NFL and subsequently the Jaguars have been shooting for a late July return date (July 28) for veterans. As of now, that plan has not changed.
Last season, Jacksonville opted to sit its veterans and starters for the vast majority of the preseason in order to preserve their health throughout the season. Most of the team's key players played limited snaps or only appeared in the third preseason game vs. the Miami Dolphins, which opened the door for backups like Gardner Minshew II to get extensive snaps.
How the Jaguars could change their preseason strategy remains to be seen. On one hand, the Jaguars could deem it not worth the risk to trot out any key players for just two weeks while the entire regular season looms ahead. On the other hand, there has been zero physical team activities so far this offseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and preseason games could offer valuable time to reacclimate to the field.
