Houston Texans: Canceling preseason will be of great benefit to the team

The NFLPA has voted unanimously to scrap the preseason amid the NFL’s decision to cut the preseason in half. No preseason will benefit the Houston Texans.

The Houston Texans still are months away from a start that’s scheduled to be on time but what things will look like in the near-term still remains up in the air.

Players are barred from facilities unless they’re receiving treatment for injuries, workouts have been virtual, Zoom has been used profusely for team meetings so the new normal is already here but how the NFL handles the season, which is scheduled to be played in each other’s stadiums, certainly is something we all want to see soon.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the nation’s top infectious disease experts, has said that the “bubble” format has to implement with the NFL, or else there’s no point in having a season because anything else would keep the players less safe from a spread of the coronavirus.

The NFL has taken note of his recommendations but they’re still to work out on what things will look like. The NBA and the MLS will adopt such a format but MLB will be using their home stadiums — also presumably without fans — to start their season as well.

The league has already made a decision to have teams trim their rosters in camp well below the typical 90 players that are allotted as one of their measures but the Houston Texans were cautious about that with their signing of the undrafted free agents because they knew this notion could be coming down the pipe.

The 2020 UDFA class was the smallest in team history and the current public health environment exacerbated the decision to limit how many players they would be able to sign.

So all eyes will be focused on Deshaun Watson, J.J. Watt, Whitney Mercilus, Brandin Cooks, Benardrick McKinney and David Johnson among many others to keep this team whole in competition.

The start of the training camp will likely be later this month and instead of staggering starts as in the past, the NFL wants all teams to start at the same time.

This leaves an important question, what will the preseason look like? The league recently cut the

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preseason in half to two games, down from the usual four but there are forces at work to eliminate it entirely.

ESPN’s Dan Graziano is reporting that the NFLPA has unanimously voted to scrap the preseason altogether but it remains to be seen if the league will agree to it in light of the potential loss of enormous revenue in those two games being watched.

Having no preseason is a terrific idea — I’m with the player representation on this — because the rookies haven’t had time to practice collectively, which who usually plays during these games, it makes no sense to hold such an exhibition.

This will leave the team a bit fresher — possibly a bit more rusty — but because Bill O’Brien has continued to declare that this is a season for the veterans, his roster is best suited to just bypass the preseason and go straight to start to grind from there.

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I could see the guys really looking energetic and rejuvenated out there and it will be benefit a team like the Houston Texans, giving the full potential to shoot for the starts — and hopefully a Super Bowl — along the way.

Let’s stay tuned and see how this notion this pans out…

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