Report: NFL to Announce 2020 Preseason Will Be Cut in Half
There has been discussion about it, and now it will officially happen.
The NFL is expected to announce on Thursday that they will cut this year's preseason in half, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
Specifically, Week One and Week Four have been scrapped. The league is expected to announce the move on Thursday.
Florio also noted the factors that played a role in the decision to shorten the preseason.
The move was driven by two primary factors. First, teams who will be playing preseason games on the road won’t want to move that many people. Second, given that no teams had on-field practice sessions in the offseason, coaches would rather have the extra time to work with their teams, and that will happen if they don’t have to worry about two extra preseason games.
This means that the Patriots will not face the Detroit Lions or the New York Giants, who they were set to face in Weeks 1 and 4, respectively.
Speculation that the preseason would be shortened has been discussed over the past several weeks, as it would provide a longer "ramp-up period" for players and coaches, since they weren't able to participate in OTAs or minicamps this offseason, and instead had to do their programs on a virtual landscape. The NFLPA has also strongly suggested that players do not participate in private workouts together, so many players won't be able to put in work with their teammates on the football field until training camp, which is set start on July 28.
Cancelling Week 1 of the preseason allows the Patriots to practice and "ramp up" from July 28 to Aug. 20, which is when New England is scheduled to take on the Carolina Panthers at home. Their final game before the regular season will be against the Eagles in Philadelphia on Aug. 27.
