Arizona Cardinals: Reduced preseason could help

There are reports the NFL could be considering reducing preseason for the Arizona Cardinals and other 31 NFL teams

With still some uncertainty about when the NFL will allow the Arizona Cardinals and other teams to open training camps, there are questions about those preseason games as well. If many fans and players had their way, there wouldn’t even be any preseason games.

That said, there has to be some kind of preseason in order to prepare for the regular season.  That doesn’t mean they need four games to get ready though.

There has been chat in recent days about the possibility of reducing the preseason, say to like two games?  That seems more plausible, even if training camps were to open near a normal time on the calendar.

Let’s remember these teams have not been able to do anything in the offseason.  COVID-19 started shuttering everything only six weeks after the Super Bowl.

We managed to squeeze in free agency and the draft but many of these players haven’t even seen the inside of their new football homes yet.  Also games, with or without fans, increases the risk of transmission of the disease no matter what kind of precautions go into effect.

Of course if anything gets pushed back, there can be no other decision to reduce preseason games.  I would agree at least one is needed before the real thing starts. However a reduced preseason would allow more time to get ready for the real thing in September, hopefully.

As of right now, the Cardinals are scheduled to open the season at the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday September 13th, now just under three months away. The NFL has not officially made any announcements.

The important thing right now is to make sure all the proper procedures are put into place for a safe return of players into team complexes.  One step at a time.

However, we are anxious for football, in any sense, to safely return as soon as possible.  We’ll keep an eye on this in the coming weeks as we draw closer to July and the usual time for camps to get underway.