The absence of NFL preseason will be felt. Just ask Chiefs, who have had key moments
The first did-he-just-do-that moment came before Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes took over the starting job in 2018.
The football traveled 68.6 yards in the indoor air inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, a launched rocket that left Mahomes’ arm and landed in Tyreek Hill’s lap.
Never would’ve happened without an NFL preseason.
There was tight end Travis Kelce out-racing the entire Cincinnati Bengals defense for a 69-yard touchdown where, in 2014, you might have first thought, Whoa, who is THAT guy?
Never would’ve happened without a preseason.
There was linebacker Ben Niemann, the undrafted rookie from Iowa who played so well he landed on the team, a year before he’d make a couple of key plays late to seal a Super Bowl victory.
Never would’ve happened without a preseason.
And thus it won’t happen in 2020. The NFL has scrapped its usual preseason to instead offer players an extended acclimation period to adjust for time lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The debate of how many preseason games should be played each year is not a new one. But there’s little doubt that having zero will be an adjustment.
“The preseason games are something that help a lot of guys out,” Mahomes said. “But I think (it’s about) the health of the players and having this acclimation period and getting everybody ready to go, so that when we do hit the field, they’re ready to go.”
You don’t just miss the highlight plays. Training camp battles can be settled by performances when the lights are on. Plays can be installed, fine-tuned or maybe even altogether scrapped. The body becomes accustomed to absorbing a hit. The speed of the game takes on new life.
The exhibition games that don’t count in the regular-season standings can provide a valuable tool for any players, but particularly teams’ rookies. The Chiefs’ 2020 class is already playing catch-up after missing organized team activities (OTAs) this offseason.
They’ve learned a playbook through virtual avenues and have missed the chance to see actual plays in action.
The jump from NCAA to the NFL will come in training camp and training camp alone. Against the same individual opponents. Day after day after day.
“I definitely feel like it was going to help with us rookies, especially with the speed of the game and just knowing it’s a new level,” said Chiefs rookie linebacker Willie Gay, the team’s second-round pick from the April draft. “I just felt like preseason was going to be something to help us get ready mentally and physically. Now we just have to take what we get and just take practice seriously and treat every day like it’s game day.”
In that sense, maybe the rookies will feel some familiarity. This, after all, resembles the college structure — no preseason slate, leaving a team’s first outside competition as a game that counts in the standings.
“I don’t know exactly how that’s going to be because I’ve never done it before,” Mahomes said. “But going back to college, I think you know you get to those first games, and it’s serious.
“You have to make sure you go out there and try to win football games. So I try to lean on that.”