The preseason is officially concluded. Now all we have to do is collectively wait for Week 1 to finally be upon us. With the preseason over, we can take a look at how teams handled it, specifically what they did with their stars and starters.
It has been a recent trend where teams rest their starters for most if not all of the preseason entirely. It’s a debate between maximizing the preservation of the talent versus getting players a few reps to warm up for the real deal. Former Seahawks, Lions, Giants and Eagles receiver Golden Tate weighed in when the numbers came out about which teams rested their starting quarterbacks for the entirety of the preseason.
These guys have managed & made every throw at some point in camp. Preseason you barely even scout the team. I want my $$$ QB in environments I feel like I can be the most prepared. Everyone is rusty WK 1, but at least the team is scouted. https://t.co/6GXXKu4m6C
— Golden Tate (@ShowtimeTate) August 28, 2023
Essentially, what Tate is saying is teams barely scout their opponents for exhibition games, so there is an element of mystery essentially. With so much up in the air, it doesn’t make sense to put your expensive franchise quarterback in potential harms way. If they are rusty come Week 1, at least they’ll be better prepared and have a better idea of what to expect from the other team.
However, it is easy to counter the “everybody is rusty” argument when you see the actual results. Every year, there is a stark difference between the teams who rested starters heavily versus teams who gave them some reps. Take for example the Seahawks/Broncos Week 1 game last year. Seattle came out firing, while Denver looked like an incoherent mess.
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