There’s one final weekend of games before the excitement of the start of the NFL season reaches its apex.
While the final preseason week of the NFL is usually a time for third and fourth stringers to show they belong, the league cutting preseason down a game has altered plans for some teams across the league.
We have all the top storylines heading into the final week of meaningless football games.
Jets to alter NFL preseason tradition
Any team that chooses to play their starters in the final preseason game is usually giving off the sign that they don’t have a lot of confidence in their squad. That isn’t the case for the Jets.
While Robert Saleh did turn heads when he said that the Jets starters would play against the Giants this weekend, it seems that it’s more of a sign to keep the team ready, and to have their quarterback ready with a new cast of weapons.
The Jets haven’t announced whether Zach Wilson will be ready for opening day against Baltimore, but all signs point to backup quarterback Joe Flacco leading the team in two weeks. Flacco is Baltimore’s best quarterback in franchise history, so being back there, and starting will offer some extra excitement to the contest.
The Jets don’t have to play their starters, but if they come out on opening day and play well, it could alter the plans of many teams across the NFL.
Are the quarterback controversies coming to an end?
Two NFL teams haven’t named a starting quarterback yet for the 2022 season: Pittsburgh and Seattle. Those two teams are in many different places though. The Steelers have had all three quarterbacks play well, and would conceivably be comfortable with any of them starting the season.
Seattle is in a much different spot. Drew Lock and Geno Smith haven’t played well throughout the preseason and will be getting all the snaps in Friday night’s contest against Dallas.
The old saying that if you have two quarterbacks, you don’t have one rings true in Seattle and the fact that neither quarterback has taken control of the battle is very telling.
It’s going to be a long season in the northwest.
Who makes the final 53-man roster?
Terrell Davis used a strong special teams play to solidify his spot on the Denver Broncos. Tom Brady, John Randle, and countless other NFL Hall-of-Famers used the final preseason game to make the final roster and propel them to long and successful careers.
Not every year has a diamond-in-the-rough type player stepped up in the final preseason game, but it does happen throughout NFL history.
Every team has a player who they like but is on the roster bubble. A strong final preseason game could help them make a final push, and maybe even produce early on in the season. There’s no guarantee these players do that at all, but the excitement that can come from a roster unknown to control the league is something that can’t be passed up.
The Giants had Victor Cruz turn a strong final preseason game into a Super Bowl championship. The Eagles used Corey Clement as a part of their own Super Bowl championship a few years after.
No one knows who it will be, but every team has those types of players that can help right away. This weekend is the last chance for those players to stand out.
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