Why Lions' Starters Should Not Play One Quarter Friday

"Around a quarter" of play. That's what Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell wants out of his starters in the Lions' preseason opener Friday night against the Buffalo Bills.

Campbell expressed his logic for the decision with reporters on Monday.

"We’ll just kind of take it like it is right now. Instead of worrying too much about where we’re at for Indianapolis for that (third preseason game), let’s just take it as it comes, and get these guys playing together in game-like situations. We’re calling it as coaches, going through the whole mechanics of all of it," Campbell said.

There is some merit to what Campbell is saying.

He does have a myriad of new players on both sides of the ball that are tasked with getting used to new systems, including a new signal-caller for the first time in over a decade in Jared Goff.

And, even the players who are carryovers from last year's roster will have an adjustment period.

Remember, the Lions have basically an entirely new coaching staff, with both a new defensive coordinator in Aaron Glenn and a new offensive coordinator in Anthony Lynn. It means that both the returning players and the first-year guys have Glenn's 3-4 base defense to adjust to, plus Lynn's ground-and-pound offense to get used to.

Each player will have their own acclimation period -- could be short, could be long -- and the best way of typically getting used to a play-caller's system is through in-game reps. The same can be said for players gaining chemistry with one another.

However, on the flip side, with each live football game, there's the risk of injury -- an unnecessary risk to take on for a meaningless preseason game, even if the starters are going to suit up for less than a quarter of action.

And sure, there's the risk of injury whenever the players strap on the pads, even in practice at Allen Park. Just ask Da'Shawn Hand and T.J. Hockenson, both of whom left Tuesday's practice early due to injury.

USATSI_15294209_168388382_lowres — Kirthmon F. Dozier, Imagn Content Services, LLC

However, you've got to remember this: There's much more controlled chaos during a training camp practice or intrasquad scrimmage than there is during a preseason contest. So, I'll take my chances with the players going over their playbooks and getting acclimated with one another in practice. I don't feel the same way about Detroit's starters doing the same in a preseason game, let alone the first exhibition contest.

So, the injury risk is a big factor for me on why I don't believe in playing the starters in preseason game No. 1.

Second, it's 2021. Translation: With the ability that coaches now have to fully and effectively evaluate their personnel within a practice, it's made the concept of playing preseason games more and more archaic. The games are just not needed anymore.

The NFL gifts its coaches with an assortment of high-end, modern-day technology to evaluate their players with on a daily basis. Through that and the coaches having a keen eye for what they want their teams to look like, it's become increasingly easy for a staff to pick out its players and to subsequently cut down its roster to 53 men via the usage of practice time.

The NFL has cut down the number of exhibition games already from four to three -- and literally no one has complained. And now, the next step is to completely eliminate the games from the league's annual calendar.

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