No Preseason Games in 2020 | Roster cut from 90 to 80

[Angry Ram]

I'm gonna miss preseason. I used it to look for irrelevant players that I use on my fantasy teams.

Well, I guess I will be in the minority here. It seems most of you on the board look at the preseason games as absolutely useless. I think a poor preseason doomed us last year, as McVay kept an untested and obviously overwhelmed offensive line from playing until the opener. Preseason gives the rooks a game speed environment that no scrimmage can offer. Seeing a young man perform under “ the lights” gives the coach a chance to see how players react under pressure. This environment will be very unfortunate for the few who would have/could have made an impression under pressure. Of course I am overstating the “ doomed season” remark, but it looked foolish to me that our coaching staff protected a very young OL instead of seeing what they really had. Soap Box now thrown away.

Preseason has changed the past few years. Even in the mid 2000s to early 2010s, the preseason was traditional (starters barely playing game 1, a bit more in game 2, and the full half in game 3, 4th game is basically a HoF game type).

Now you barely see teams playing any starters at all. Maybe a series or two. So no preseason doesn't matter in that regard.

 

[Kevin]

There could be lot of opportunity for UDFAs to fill in for players who test positive and must sit out of games and practice. Practice squads could be very fluid.

 

[Zaphod]

I think the league needs to expand rosters this year, maybe a 10 man Covid roster. Teams are going to lose players for a month at a time. It'd make more sense to let teams hang onto players they lured to the team instead of having to go plucking them from different cities when Covid hits the team. 55 active roster, 10 practice squad, 10 Covid squad. Protect the practice squad from pilfering by other teams.

That actually makes perfect sense, especially considering that there won't really be much opportunity to evaluate the players.

I'm not even sure who benefits from limiting the roster, but I would guess that would be the players union and agents in an attempt to create more demand for the players they are allowed to have?

Maybe I'm just being too soft for the players competing for a roster spot, but without preseason games it seems like some of these guys are just getting jerked around.

 

[dieterbrock]

I'm not even sure who benefits from limiting the roster

The less players in camp, the better chance to social distance in practice

 

[MauiRam]

I'm gonna miss preseason. I used it to look for irrelevant players that I use on my fantasy teams.

I'd almost forgotten about that. Way back in the mid eighties where I was working a newly hired guy from Vegas (he'd been a bartender at one of the casinos) discovered that a lot of us were football fans. He told us about this new game called Fantasy Football. We'd never heard of it, but it sounded good so we established a league with 10 guys. I played for 5 years and never finished out of the money. ( 1st, 2nd or 3rd place.)

I always watched whatever preseason games were available and every year drafted a "sleeper." Not everyone was wise to that strategy in those days, and it really helped me out. I can't remember all the rookies " sleepers" I drafted back then, however, I do remember a couple: Christian Okoye, and Marion Butts. Eventually the rest of the group caught on and most everyone took a flyer on a promising rookie. This was back in the days before personal computers were common. There was only one guy in our league who had a computer back then, and we all considered it cheating ... The rest of us had to rely on newspapers for stats back then. Ah the good old days ...

 

[Ramhusker]

The less players in camp, the better chance to social distance in practice

Sure, but are they limited for space? What are they doing with 90 players in camp???? We are talking about 10 more players. Most of the time, they are split up by squads or drills. There's no reason you couldn't make it work. Pay scale for the third tier would of course be less but better than dreams dashed. I think this would help every team with actually controlling exposure by not having to go to other teams' practice squads for help when Covid hits a team. They'll already have the player in house.

 

[dieterbrock]

Sure, but are they limited for space? What are they doing with 90 players in camp???? We are talking about 10 more players. Most of the time, they are split up by squads or drills. There's no reason you couldn't make it work. Pay scale for the third tier would of course be less but better than dreams dashed. I think this would help every team with actually controlling exposure by not having to go to other teams' practice squads for help when Covid hits a team. They'll already have the player in house.

Well, under the circumstances the players/NFL agree to have smaller groups with a longer ramp up. They'll ultimately end up at 53 anyway.
They're doing the best they can to take this 1 step at a time. 1st step is to get these guys in camp.

 

[Ram65]

I like to see backups and lower end roster players play preseason games. I think starters are a little rusty early in the season. The catch 22 is the injury possibilities. Controlled scrimmages seem to be safer for players. We will see how the 80 man roster affects the Rams. The kickers could use game attempts to add more pressure. I guess 80 players is a little safer but, if they are confined for the first two weeks does it really matter?

 

[PhillyRam]

Sure, but are they limited for space? What are they doing with 90 players in camp???? We are talking about 10 more players. Most of the time, they are split up by squads or drills. There's no reason you couldn't make it work. Pay scale for the third tier would of course be less but better than dreams dashed. I think this would help every team with actually controlling exposure by not having to go to other teams' practice squads for help when Covid hits a team. They'll already have the player in house.

Yeah, why can't they simply stagger practices, especially gir those 20 UDFAs?? Have 20 guys alternate practices (10 guys on 10 guys off)... so you get a feel for who has a shot to make the team.

 

[dieterbrock]

Yeah, why can't they simply stagger practices, especially gir those 20 UDFAs?? Have 20 guys alternate practices (10 guys on 10 guys off)... so you get a feel for who has a shot to make the team.

I think the cold reality is that they are more concerned with keeping their players healthy than they are thinking about UDFA making teams.

 

[PhillyRam]

I think the cold reality is that they are more concerned with keeping their players healthy than they are thinking about UDFA making teams.

Just thinking of the fairness of giving a kid a real opportunity. I think they should at least give kids like that a week to show something so they have a real shot.

 

[dieterbrock]

Just thinking of the fairness of giving a kid a real opportunity. I think they should at least give kids like that a week to show something so they have a real shot.

I'm not saying whats right or wrong, just saying I think they are more concerned with player safety than worrying about giving the extra 10 players a shot. Also of note, without the pre-season games, the teams workouts are going to progress as the camp goes on. I dont know what a fringe player would show in a week anyways. I think they lose their shot by having no pre-season games much more than not getting roster spots

 

[Oregonram]

Wow, glad you were impressed with our start last year. I do believe that preseason games play a definite role in evaluating talent at a different pace and with the roar of the crowd separating the players who are ready, from the overwhelmed. I loved seeing the young talent. I still think resting our OL like they were polished and ready to go was a mistake.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Somebody said it earlier... sorting out our kicking situation is going to be interesting.

 

[Zaphod]

The less players in camp, the better chance to social distance in practice

I was more speaking to the objective oriented perspective of which “side” argued for the limit it n the first place, outside of the context of the big scary pandemic. I really have no idea.

In its entirety of context I was admitting to being soft on the underdog in what seems to be an arbitrary limit introduced to create more demand by limiting supply.

I do theorize that allowing supply to increase it would benefit both teams and players, though not the top tiered players, but the fans would likely benefit through increased variation in talent and strategy using that talent.

That will happen though

 

[PhillyRam]

I'm not saying whats right or wrong, just saying I think they are more concerned with player safety than worrying about giving the extra 10 players a shot. Also of note, without the pre-season games, the teams workouts are going to progress as the camp goes on. I dont know what a fringe player would show in a week anyways. I think they lose their shot by having no pre-season games much more than not getting roster spots

In another thread you are telling me there should be no issues in regards to players getting infected.

 

[dieterbrock]

In another thread you are telling me there should be no issues in regards to players getting infected.

Not what I said, but that's ok. I merely state that the expectation shouldnt be a mass breakout. But you do you

 

[dieterbrock]

I was more speaking to the objective oriented perspective of which “side” argued for the limit it n the first place, outside of the context of the big scary pandemic. I really have no idea.

In its entirety of context I was admitting to being soft on the underdog in what seems to be an arbitrary limit introduced to create more demand by limiting supply.

I do theorize that allowing supply to increase it would benefit both teams and players, though not the top tiered players, but the fans would likely benefit through increased variation in talent and strategy using that talent.

That will happen though

I wasnt saying it is right or wrong, just my understanding of why they are limiting roster size. Not sure how the fans are impacted either way since they cant watch training camp and there are no pre-season games

And the way I also understood it, it was the players, not the owners pushing for smaller rosters
According to Mike Jones of USA Today, there have been suggestions within “NFLPA circles” about reducing rosters from 90 players to 75 or 80. Offseason rosters grew from 80 to 90 in 2012.

Report: Reducing roster size has been suggested

With the clock ticking toward the scheduled starts of training camps on July 28, the NFL and NFLPA are discussing how to do it safely.

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

 

[PhillyRam]

Not what I said, but that's ok. I merely state that the expectation shouldnt be a mass breakout. But you do you

Where did I say mass breakout?

I just said I could see if a team gets an infected player it could hit a unit because of close working relationships among units from on field to meeting rooms etc..