The injury epidemic
Regardless of which side of the fence you’re on regarding whether or not preseason games should be cut out or the schedule reduced, everybody can agree the injuries suffered this summer have been numerous and costly.
Here’s a list of some of the top players who have been knocked out of action for a significant amount of time already: Arian Foster (RB, Houston Texans), Kevin White (WR, Chicago Bears), Julius Thomas (TE, Jacksonville Jaguars), Michael Floyd (WR, Arizona Cardinals), Geno Smith (QB, New York Jets), Phil Loadholt (OT, Minnesota Vikings), Breshad Perriman (WR, Baltimore Ravens), Kelvin Benjamin (WR, Carolina Panthers), Jordy Nelson (WR, Green Bay Packers) and Maurkice Pouncey (C, Pittsburgh Steelers).
There have been many more injuries to players not so famous, and every single one of them takes a toll on the players themselves as well as their respective teams.
Many have argued that these games are meaningless. Aaron Rodgers was vocal about his bitter feelings regarding these scrimmages after Nelson’s season-ending injury, saying “It’s hard to lose a guy over a meaningless game.”
At the same time, while the games do seem worthless sometimes, the truth of the matter is there are players on every team’s roster at the end of camp who wouldn’t be there if not for the valuable playing time they receive in these “meaningless” games.