This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise after the NFL canceled the 2020 Hall of Fame Game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys slated for next month in Canton.
Amid the ongoing pandemic, the league has decided to make more moves ahead of the regular season starting Sept. 10.
NFL scraps two weeks of the preseason
According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, the NFL has decided to cancel Weeks 1 and 4 of 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,” the report read.
Each team will now play just two preseason games next month. Fans won’t be terribly upset over this, either. Most had been calling for the NFL to shorten its exhibition slate.
What does this mean for the 2020 NFL season?
Nothing really. As the report notes, a lack of in-person off-season workouts the spring and summer played a role in this. The league is also concerned with players and personnel moving around during the summer months given the uptick in COVID-19 cases around the United States
NFL training camps still slated to start as planned
This has no bearing on the start of training camps later this month. Camps are set to open around the league from July 25 through July 29. Whether that is viable in states that continue to see the virus spread at a record clip remains to be seen. For now, the NFL is planning for business as usual on that front.