August in the NFL is essentially one extended dress rehearsal.
Sure, football is technically back, but little of it resembles the game that captures our hearts and puts us on the edge of our seats. We’re not watching Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts trade shot for shot in meaningless games — even if Mahomes is still prone to wizardry. We’re mostly taking in backups and guys fiercely fighting for jobs and roster spots in a fiercely cruel league.
That doesn’t mean nothing of consequence happens this month. If anything, if you know how to read the tea leaves, NFL exhibitions in August drop a lot of hints about what might come down the pipe for various squads. The preseason can still feature meaningful assessments as long as you know what you’re signing up for.
For example, it lets us see early looks at the famed successor to one of the greatest players in the sport’s history. In another city, we wonder more about a snakebitten organization potentially failing perhaps the most talented quarterbacks it’s ever rostered. Meanwhile, a top-tier franchise showed us why exhibitions actually do matter for sustained success.
Yes, even in August, we can start to see how these random puzzle pieces fit together. As it winds down, let’s dive in and take a look at a few essential takeaways from the 2023 NFL preseason.
1
The rise of Jordan Love
Entering his first season as the Green Bay Packers’ unquestioned starter, Jordan Love faces an impossible situation.
By virtue of being Aaron Rodgers’ predecessor, Love does not have the luxury of comfortably growing into his role. If Love shows any inconsistencies or struggles this fall, the Green Bay faithful will inevitably compare him to Rodgers. They will wonder whether the Packers made a mistake jettisoning Rodgers for an unproven 24-year-old who sat on the bench for three years. It’s not fair, but it’s the nature of following the act of a future Hall of Fame quarterback.
The good news is, through two Packers preseason games, Love is already showing off traits and poise that could make this transition relatively seamless.
Take this absolute dart against the New England Patriots as a demonstration:
An old Arians favorite that the Packers have liked to run the past few years.
Motion the WR and make it look like 11 personnel Duo (look at Love even give the point to sell it) and run a hard sell play action.
Great pocket. Love puts it on the money. Nice catch by Reed. TD. pic.twitter.com/3xCvmAFXck
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) August 20, 2023
That is decidedly not a throw you’d expect someone with a career 83 passing attempts could complete. It’s layered over the top of a complex defense in zone coverage and put only in a place that his target Jayden Reed can make a play on. Your average run-of-the-mill passer likely doesn’t see this play develop. But, as he’s shown in his preseason snaps thus far, the extra seasoning Love received in the background is starting to pay off.
Love has led five Packers’ offensive possessions this preseason. They’ve scored three touchdowns. In particular, Love’s patience has sparkled as a willing point guard distributor of an offense with raw but promising playmakers like Reed, Christian Watson, and Romeo Doubs. As great as Rodgers was in the green and gold, that element was desperately missing from the Packers’ offense last year — a quarterback who will take the easy yards and easy throws over an insistence on a home run ball.
It’s hard to say Love will be a superstar based on exhibition action. At the very least, he’s showing enough composure and comfort to establish that he could be a competent maestro of an ascending offense. With one of the NFL’s more talented defenses on paper, that’s all the Packers need from Love for now.
2
The Ravens' commitment to their preseason winning streak was admirable for the right reasons
Most NFL coaches aren’t under the false impression that the win-loss column means anything in the preseason. This time of year, it’s about working out the kinks, finding a rhythm, and easing your way into the grind of the regular season. Again, these are all dress rehearsals. No one in their right mind is pushing full steam ahead in games where third and fourth-stringers dominate a majority of the action.
Tell that to the Baltimore Ravens and John Harbaugh. Under Harbaugh’s guidance, Baltimore hadn’t lost an exhibition since early September 2015. Coming into Monday night, for nearly eight years running, the Ravens compiled a 24-game preseason winning streak. That is unfathomable for a portion of the NFL calendar that sees many players who won’t make final 53-man rosters receiving the lion’s share of the snaps. There’s only so much short-term coaching and development can do for players who don’t belong at this level of football.
As Justin Tucker explained to ESPN, the Ravens saw their preseason winning ways as a validation of their culture:
“I’ve said this last year, and the year before and probably the year before that, but it of course means something to us,” Tucker said. “It’s a reflection of our organization, our coaching staff and our young players working their tails off this time of year to put a good product on the field, and a product that we can all be proud of. More than anything, it speaks to the way our coaches develop us and the way they ensure our young guys buy into what we do around here.”
Indeed, it does say something about the Ravens. Something good, great even.
For most of Harbaugh’s 15-year coaching tenure, they’ve been a Class A franchise accustomed to being treated like a marquee team. That’s because everyone who dons the purple and black matters. Everyone. You never know who will have to play, and you never know who has potential but just needs patience and experience. August is the ideal time to steal snaps and find solutions to these future dilemmas. The way the Ravens treat the preseason — where even the weakest links must compete with the scoreboard in mind until the final whistle — usually translates to the product they put on the field.
Well, depending on whom you talk to, that hasn’t been the case lately. Baltimore hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2020 Wild Card Round. With Joe Burrow’s ascent in Cincinnati, the Ravens haven’t even won the AFC North since 2019. There are extenuating circumstances in play (Lamar Jackson’s passive-aggressive contract situation comes to mind), but we haven’t seen the RAVENS we’re used to in a little while.
Maybe this year, what Baltimore accomplishes in the preseason will translate to improved fortune in meaningful games. Maybe this year, the Ravens’ proactiveness with depth and competition in all forms can help end their mini-playoff slumps. It’s also pretty cool they kept up a winning streak that long, even in the preseason.
3
The Bears' offensive line is once again a mess and that's bad news for Justin Fields
Year 3 of the Chicago Bears’ Justin Fields era is a pivotal one.
By now, most young quarterbacks start to blossom into the player they’ll likely be for the rest of their professional careers. Three years in is when we can usually begin to make a definitive judgment about a passer’s aptitude and long-term longevity in the league. The nagging issue for the Bears and Fields is that we probably won’t get a fair evaluation of the promising dual-threat player. As one would expect, it’s because of a patchwork offensive line somehow already running on fumes.
On Sunday night, the Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs reported that former second-round pick Teven Jenkins would likely miss time into the start of the 2023 regular season because of an undisclosed leg injury. In his own third year in the NFL, Jenkins was slated to start at left guard for Chicago. His injury stacks on top of an undisclosed ailment that veteran free agent addition Nate Davis has apparently dealt with all preseason. Lest I forget, depth lineman Lucas Patrick and planned starting center Cody Whitehair are both also hurting.
But they’re playing! Yay?
One player who has missed significant practice time did return today – OL Lucas Patrick. He was playing center with Cody Whitehair back at the left guard spot he's manned in recent seasons.
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) August 21, 2023
Factor in the inexperience of top-10 pick rookie right tackle Darnell Wright and pet developmental project Braxton Jones on the other side, and Chicago has a brewing recipe for disaster. This already for a starting offensive line that has seldom practiced together with the same five players all offseason. (Insert an anthropomorphic dog in a burning house saying “everything is fine” here.)
I will not pretend that Fields doesn’t multiply the Bears’ pass-protection deficiencies. His sack percentage through two years is an abysmal 13.4 percent. A quarterback doesn’t reach those alarming figures without holding the ball too much, too often. By that same token, Fields often keeps the ball because he’s trying to make a play out of nothing when quickly besieged by defenders in the backfield. He didn’t transform himself into the sport’s arguably top rushing quarterback overnight because he enjoyed taking QB Power off tackle — it was out of sheer survival behind a line incapable of dropback pass protection.
That’s what should make the Bears’ injury woes up front so disconcerting if you’re Chicago’s front office. Sure, Fields has improved weapons with a receiver trio of D.J. Moore, Darnell Mooney, and Chase Claypool. But he still needs time to get them the ball and stretch defenses. He still needs more regular comfort in the pocket to execute a sustainable modern passing offense. If the Bears are forced to shuffle around their offensive line chess pieces in late August, it feels like a harbinger of doom for the attrition of the regular season.
Worse yet, it might be another wasted year for Fields’ development.
4
The Bills, Lions and Packers' unrealistic rookie TE ambitions
While quarterbacks get most of the attention, young tight ends present an underrated developmental challenge. Most Y’s and H’s take a long time to find their footing in the NFL based on their age. With so many different route-running and blocking responsibilities in tandem, it’s a lot to digest. Sure, gifted playmakers like Travis Kelce and George Kittle more or less got off the bus running, but both were in their mid-20s when they finally figured “it” out.
Suffice it to say: Counting on an uninitiated tight end as a foundational winning piece is a mistake. Don’t tell this to the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions, and Green Bay Packers. The three organizations selected three of the highest-drafted tight ends in the 2023 NFL Draft — Dalton Kincaid, Sam LaPorta, and Luke Musgrave, respectively. And based on each player’s preseason usage thus far, it seems apparent that Buffalo, Detroit, and Green Bay expect sizable contributions from one of the hardest positions to learn in pro football.
To this point, Kincaid, LaPorta, and Musgrave have played most of their respective offense’s first-string snaps. Kincaid and Musgrave have presented themselves as Josh Allen and Jordan Love favorites, while LaPorta is likened to seeing plenty of receiving volume on a Detroit team with limited outside playmaking. If we suspend reality for a second, all of this is well and good and fun and delightful. If we snap back to the current space-time continuum, rookie tight ends simply do not contribute the way teams hope.
Josh Allen just tried to thread a needle to Dalton Kincaid. Tim Settle knocked the ball in the air. Kincaid stuck with it and grabbed it for a TD. Earlier in the segment, Allen hit Kincaid in a tight window on the sideline. The rookie tight end caught it and turned up field
— Sal Capaccio 🏈 (@SalSports) August 10, 2023
Three rookie tight ends in the last two decades have recorded at least 600 receiving yards in their first season. Three. Not even Kelce or Kittle managed that kind of production from the jump. This presents itself as a disaster for the defending AFC East champion and two risers in the NFC North.
If Kincaid can’t make an immediate impact, suddenly, the Super Bowl-hopeful Bills are once again really only leaning on Stefon Diggs in their passing game. If Musgrave can’t make an immediate impact, suddenly, the Packers are asking more from Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs than should be necessary. If LaPorta isn’t a significant factor, who’s drawing attention away from Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jahmyr Gibbs? Marvin Jones Jr.? Oh, please.
Buffalo, Detroit, and Green Bay have made their rookie tight end beds. Now we’ll see whether they can lie in them.
5
The Seahawks are legit and they need to be taken seriously
Pete Carroll might be making waves with his Mahomes-like quarterback play in practice, but his Seattle Seahawks appear even more intriguing.
Seattle caught many observers off guard last fall when, after trading Russell Wilson, they qualified for the playoffs anyway. Of course, their January run didn’t last very long, eventually getting molly-whopped by the rival San Francisco 49ers. I’m here to tell you the Seahawks aren’t going anywhere. And I have a hard time believing San Francisco will lay down the same beating as last year, to boot. It’s because some of their young building blocks are showing more promise.
On the offensive side, rookie running back Zach Charbonnet is playing like he’ll give the Seahawks a dynamite 1-2 punch with Kenneth Walker III. Meanwhile, sophomore starting tackles Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas have taken a step forward as formidable franchise book-ends. In a league where many teams struggle to find a consistent anchor, Seattle has two young guns under cost-effective control for the next three seasons. That is a gift.
Then there’s this guy, Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Remember him, the quote-unquote premier receiver available in the 2023 draft? Yeah, I have a feeling he won’t have trouble making big plays in the slot between D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett:
A JSN BEAUT! 🤩
📺 #DALvsSEA on KING 5 pic.twitter.com/D3lPWaAZ4f
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) August 20, 2023
On defense, first-round pick Devon Witherspoon’s injury issues have opened the door for former starter Tre Brown to seize the day. He hasn’t wasted the opportunity, recording a pick and making comfortable open-field tackles during Seattle’s latest preseason matchup against the Dallas Cowboys. Even when Witherspoon presumably returns to full strength, having more cornerback depth in an already skillful secondary featuring Pro Bowl-level players Quandre Diggs and Tariq Woolen is a fantastic problem to have. When a future Hall of Fame veteran like Bobby Wagner is calling the defensive plays again, the promise on hand is palpable.
The new-look Seahawks don’t quite have the “Legion of Boom” in their palms, but it might not be a far cry off.
The elephant in the room is Geno Smith. The 32-year-old played well and efficiently enough to earn a huge contract and another year as Seattle’s undisputed starter. But Smith’s resurgence noticeably faded down last year’s stretch run as defenses keyed on his occasional capacity to fade away from additional pass-rush pressure. Smith wound up throwing three picks and just 621 yards in three games as the Seahawks tried to solidify playoff positioning. I don’t think Smith was “exposed,” per se, but it is something to monitor.
Adding another weapon like Smith-Njigba to the mix, combined with a more seasoned offensive line, should do wonders for a quarterback who received warranted MVP consideration at intermittent points of the season.
August 16 reminder that Geno Smith is good at football pic.twitter.com/pGiTJ8vk8D
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) August 16, 2023
Provided Smith plays like he did in the earlier parts of the 2022 campaign, Seattle has the definitive top quarterback in the NFC West. That is no small feat when the 49ers continue to jumble around Brock Purdy, Trey Lance, and Sam Darnold, when Matthew Stafford might be on his last legs in Los Angeles, and when Kyler Murray is returning from a torn ACL on the NFL’s worst team in Arizona. Having the premier guy under center compared to your rival counterparts carries a lot of weight.
Better yet, a deeper, more talented nucleus supporting Smith means the Seahawks feel like a “sleeper” Super Bowl candidate that probably shouldn’t be a sleeper. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
