Mark Daniels

Wednesday

Jul 1, 2020 at 4:06 PM

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, sports have been either nonexistent or very different in 2020. For the NFL, Covid-19 has altered their plans this offseason with no OTAs or minicamp. Now, the league’s preseason schedule will look different as well.

According to ProFootballTalk, the NFL will be cutting the preseason slate in half. That means each team will play just two games – one at home and one on the road – this summer. The league is reportedly looking to drop [...]

For the Patriots, that means they’ll lose their preseason opener against the Detroit Lions, originally scheduled for Aug. 13 at Gillette Stadium, and their annual matchup against the New York Giants, which was supposed to happen on Sept. 3 in New Jersey.

If this all holds true, the Patriots will play their first preseason game of 2020 at home against the Carolina Panthers on Aug. 20. That would mean new quarterback Cam Newton could very well make his Patriots preseason debut against his former team. That would certainly be one to watch. The Pats second, and now final, preseason game would be on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles on Aug. 27.

According to ESPN, the primary factor in this schedule change is that the league understands that players will need more time to get in shape after all offseason team workouts were canceled due to the pandemic. Now, all players will have a three-week acclimatization period between the start of training camp on July 28 and their first preseason game.

mdaniels@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @MarkDanielsPJ

NFL reportedly cuts preseason in half due to coronavirus

Wednesday