Preseason football is kind of a weird beast, isn't it? You’ve got die-hard fans counting every single snap of a third-string left tackle, while everyone else is basically just waiting for the real games to start in September. Honestly, the 2024 NFL preseason schedule was one of the more interesting ones we’ve seen in a while, mostly because the league has finally settled into that three-game rhythm after years of the four-game slog.
It officially kicked off in Canton, Ohio. The Hall of Fame Game is always that "tease" that football is back, even if we rarely see the stars. On August 1, the Chicago Bears and Houston Texans took the field, but it wasn't exactly a long night. Nature had other plans. Lightning and heavy rain forced the officials to call the game early in the third quarter, leaving the Bears with a 21-17 victory. It was a bummer for anyone wanting to see more of the depth charts, but it gave us a glimpse of Brett Rypien throwing three touchdowns, which was definitely not on my bingo card.
Breaking Down the 2024 NFL Preseason Schedule
Once the Hall of Fame festivities wrapped up, the "real" preseason started. This is where the 2024 NFL preseason schedule gets a bit more structured. Unlike the old days, teams now only play three games (unless you're the Bears or Texans), and the scheduling is built around a "bridge" week before the regular season begins.
The bulk of the action happened over three weekends in August.
Week 1 ran from August 8 to 11.
Week 2 went from August 15 to 18.
Week 3 finished things off between August 22 and 25.
What's actually interesting is how the home-field advantage is split. Since the NFL moved to a 17-game regular season, the preseason had to adjust. Teams that play nine regular-season home games only get one preseason home game. If you've only got eight home games on the real schedule, the league "compensates" you with two home preseason games. It’s a bit of a math game to make sure every stadium gets ten dates of football.
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The Rookie QB Gauntlet
People weren't just watching the clock; they were watching the future. This preseason was dominated by the "Big Six" rookie quarterbacks. Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, Michael Penix Jr., J.J. McCarthy, and Bo Nix. All of them were under the microscope.
Caleb Williams waited until Week 1 against the Buffalo Bills to make his debut. He looked... well, like the number one pick. He had this one scramble and throw across his body that made every Bears fan on social media lose their mind. On the flip side, Jayden Daniels used his first snap in the 2024 NFL preseason schedule to launch a 42-yard bomb to Dyami Brown. It’s those little moments that keep us watching through the boring second halves.
Key Matchups That Actually Mattered
If you were looking at the 2024 NFL preseason schedule for high-level competition, you were looking in the wrong place. But for position battles? It was gold.
- Steelers vs. Texans (Aug 9): This was the Justin Fields vs. Russell Wilson debate in its infancy. Wilson sat out with a calf injury, giving Fields the stage. It was... messy. Two fumbled snaps and two sacks later, the "quarterback competition" in Pittsburgh looked more like a headache for Mike Tomlin.
- Raiders vs. Vikings (Aug 10): This was the JJ McCarthy show before the heartbreak. He looked great, throwing two touchdowns, only to find out later he’d torn his meniscus. It completely shifted the Vikings' season before it even started.
- Patriots vs. Commanders (Aug 25): The preseason finale. Usually, this is the "scrub" game, but the Patriots used it to finally name Jacoby Brissett the starter (temporarily) over Drake Maye.
The schedule also featured some weirdly specific broadcast windows. For example, the NFL has been leaning hard into streaming. We saw games on Prime Video and even Peacock, which is basically the league's way of telling us to get used to having five different apps just to watch a game on a Thursday night.
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Why the Third Game Changed Everything
Most coaches treat the third game of the 2024 NFL preseason schedule as a dress rehearsal, or at least they used to. Now? It’s a coin toss. Some teams, like the Rams, won't play a single starter for a single second of the preseason. Sean McVay basically treats these games as a live-action evaluation for the guys who are going to be on the practice squad.
Then you have guys like Dan Campbell in Detroit. He’s much more old-school. He wants to see his guys hit. But even he’s pulling back because the risk of losing a key player in a game that doesn't count is just too high. Look at what happened to the Vikings. One preseason game, one lost rookie quarterback. That’s the nightmare.
The Strategy Behind the Dates
The scheduling isn't just random. The NFL purposely puts a "dark week" between the final preseason game and the season opener. This gives teams time to handle the "Turk." On August 27, every team had to cut their roster from 90 players down to 53. That’s 1,184 players getting bad news in a single 24-hour window.
The preseason schedule is basically a three-week job interview. You'll see players like Collin Johnson for the Bears, who had a monster Hall of Fame Game, trying to prove they belong. Johnson went for 56 yards and two scores in that storm-shortened opener. Does that mean he’s the next Jerry Rice? No. But it means he survived the first round of cuts.
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Practical Steps for Following Future Slates
If you're trying to make sense of how the NFL schedules these exhibition games for the next cycle, keep these points in mind:
- Check the Home/Away Balance: If your team has a heavy road schedule in the regular season, they’ll likely have more home games in August.
- Monitor the Joint Practices: More and more, the "real" work happens in the days leading up to the game. Teams often have joint practices where the starters actually go full speed. If a fight breaks out in a Wednesday practice, the Saturday game is probably going to be a snooze-fest because the coaches are already annoyed.
- Follow the QB Reps: The 2024 schedule proved that the "starting" QB usually plays about one series in Game 1, a quarter in Game 2, and then sits in Game 3. If you want to see the stars, buy tickets for the first fifteen minutes of the first game.
The 2024 NFL preseason schedule served its purpose. It gave us the first look at a new kickoff rule that everyone was confused about, it sorted out some messy QB battles in Pittsburgh and Las Vegas, and it reminded us that no matter how much we complain about "meaningless" games, we’re still going to watch. It’s football. We can’t help ourselves.
Moving forward, keep a close eye on the roster moves that happen immediately following the Week 3 finale. The players who shined in those late-August windows are often the same ones who end up providing crucial depth during the injury-plagued weeks of November and December. Use the final preseason stats not as a predictor of stardom, but as a map of who the coaching staff trusts when the lights are bright.