There are always two prevailing opinions by NFL players regarding preseason action. If you’re an established player, then you likely hate the preseason as you don’t have much to prove and want to avoid the additional wear and tear from playing in games that don’t count in the standings.
But if you’re a young player who was undrafted or a late-round pick, then preseason is your chance to shine. You can make a name for yourself with opportunities and playing time you wouldn’t get in regular-season action if you even make a regular-season roster.
These players want to log as many snaps as possible during preseason so that either their current or future teams have tape to visualize what they could bring to the table.
With those two mindsets, New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo has a brilliant plan to incentivize players from both camps.
The Patriots will take on the Philadelphia Eagles in preseason action on Thursday, and the two teams are holding a joint practice against one another in preparation. Since teams have been practicing against themselves through these first couple of weeks of training camp, having the opportunity to practice against someone else often turns up the intensity, which could lead to practice fights and skirmishes.
But Mayo is leveraging preseason playing time to potentially curtail his team from fighting with Eagles players.
The last thing a starter wants to do is play an entire preseason game, as many, like Rodgers, don’t even want to play a single snap. Likewise, the last thing a non-starter wants to do is not see the field in preseason as out of sight, out of mind, which could lead to that player being out of a job.
The opposing head coach, Nick Sirianni, essentially echoed Mayo about fights and how they aren’t present in the games that matter, so there shouldn’t be any in these preseason games either. Before Tuesday’s practice, the media asked him about the possibility of any skirmishes between the teams taking place.
“Just like, if we want our tackling to be sure in a game, our approach out here has to be good. The same thing with our composure; if we want your composure to be good in a game, your approach has to be the same out here.”
Fines Issued
While all teams received the memo, not all heeded it. Just last week, the New York Giants and Detroit Lions held joint practices on Monday and Tuesday ahead of their preseason matchup on Thursday. Multiple brawls occurred over both days of practice, clearly defying the NFL’s stance on practice fights. As a result, both organizations were fined $200,000.
One way to completely avoid any chance of these fights between teams is to not schedule joint practices with another organization.
However, the reward of going up against someone other than yourself at this time of the year outweighs the risk of incurring fines for possible fights, which is why all but two NFL teams are participating in joint practices this year. The lone outliers are the Las Vegas Raiders and the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Due to the relatively close proximity of Philadelphia and Foxborough, Massachusetts, these two franchises have become regular preseason opponents.
