I totally agree with playing the starters in the first two games. They have to get ready. They have to hit. They have to get hit. I am willing to risk an injury. After all players get injured in practice. It is part of the game. If you are not all in you will lose. Now first game no more than two series. Second game two or three series.

It's live reps against players they aren't used to looking at: most teams will be playing their 2s to open their preseason games. Some teams do give their 1s preseason reps. We know that the defense in particular will need to be ready for a Philly team that's hard to tackle and plays physically up front. In the long run, we'll judge whether or not this was a good decision by the number of trips to the blue tent and how quickly the team starts when the games count.

Each team (rightly so) needs to protect their 100+M QB asset.
During the preseason, results don't matter.
Why doesn't the league adopt some version of 'QBs wearing red and are protected' for preseason games like they do for practices? Something more than practices, but not as 'real' as games that count in terms of sacking/hitting QBs? They're smart -- they can figure something out that allows player evaluation while also protecting their team's franchise playuhs.

Just get some action and help them (especially the big guys) to get their game legs earlier. Sucking air after half the 1st 1/4 and playing tired isn't healthy either.

It's more dangerous if the other teams aren't playing their 1s, I think. The 2s and lower are going to do anything they can to make a team's 53 and bodies are flying around.

It's going to be a season long race with the Lions for the division. Anyone who says one team will win the NFCN easily is fooling themselves. Of course we need to be sharp against Philly in week 1. Playing this still very young starting unit, with the new defense included, is the right thing to do. Yes, it is risky.

I hope that they're sharp, we score right away, stop them right away, and get out with no injuries in any of the games.

Totally agree. They can not wait until the Eagles game for the dress rehearsal.

True, Nelson had a season ending knee injury in an exhibition game. And David Bakhtiari had what was effectively a career ending knee injury during practice. Remember how Teddy Bridgewater of the Vikings was dropping back to pass in a practice, and tore up his knee? Zach Tom and Tucker Kraft tore pectoral muscles working out. Stuff happens.

Just be real, real smart about the essential high-contract players like Love, Clark, Gary, Alexander, McKinney, and Jenkins--maybe one or two series and out they come. They'll be ready for the opener.

It's important to get Cooper and the rookie safeties infused into the new defense as well as key second-year players like Van Ness and Brooks to establish a baseline from which to move forward.

Otherwise, preseason should be a time to sort out your depth and see who really stands out. It's also the perfect time to get the special teams organized and maybe get them started out on the right foot for once.

I don't see it as calculated at all.
MLF knows he has Depth.
And he doesn't want a roller coastal ride at QB.

I appreciate Gil pointing out the opening game fiascos against the Saints and Vikings in recent years during the end of the Aaron Rodgers Era.
Not only is it a humiliating way to begin the season, but I think waiting until the regular season to play the starters could actually be an injury risk in itself.
As an example, there may be less risk of injury for an offense if the starters have some time on the field during preseason games when the defensive schemes are less complex and the competition is not quite as fierce.
It's an opportunity for an offense to get in a rhythm as a unit and so to be much more ready for the regular season games of madness and mayhem.
A cohesive offense would seem to lessen the risk of injuries due to missed assignments or even players being just a little out of sync with each other.
It would seem similar with a defense needing to learn how to play as a unit as far as learning where each other is going to be in different situations -- thus avoiding not only embarrassing mistakes, but perhaps also dangerous collisions.
With the intricacies of teamwork so much a part of the NFL, a strategically limited but still serious commitment to preseason games would seem to be a smart transition from training camp practices to the regular season.
***
As a final note -- which seems to be highly in accord with my readings about the Civil War in recent months -- it's a delicate balance as far as taking risks.
It's easy to be reckless or timid. It's mindless to be always on the offensive or always on the defensive.
The challenge is in knowing when to hold back a little longer, and knowing when to go all in.
One of the reasons the great Union General William S. Rosecrans is forgotten these days is because he was so adept at determining when to be daringly bold and when to be deliberately restrained.
After pulling out a great victory at Stones River near Murfreesboro, Tennessee (today a suburb of Nashville), at the very end of 1862/the very beginning of 1863, Rosecrans was heavily pressured by his superiors in Washington, D.C. to further advance on the Confederates.
However, Rosecrans knew that his Army of the Cumberland was decidedly in need of more training and dependent upon the securing of a long and vulnerable supply line before it could effectively advance further south in what was rugged and barren terrain.
It wasn't until some six months later that Rosecrans set his troops in motion in a tactical campaign that has been dubbed by historian Frank Varney as the "Tullahoma Masterpiece" (from the book, "General Grant and the Rewriting of History: How the Destruction of William S. Rosecrans Influenced Our Understanding of the Civil War;" also see David Moore's fairly recent biography of Rosecrans).
With a series of feints and maneuvers that were preplanned but also improvised, Rosecrans befuddled the Confederates into retreating out of central Tennessee and falling all the way back (some 80 miles) to the bottom of the state in Chattanooga -- all without a major battle; only 84 killed, 473 wounded, and 13 missing.
The excellence of this operation has been overlooked in part because it occurred at just about the same time as the momentous battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg.
Also, the apparent ease of the actually complex Tullahoma Campaign has allowed it to be sadly underestimated by contemporary observers and subsequent historians.
When the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, seemed to not appreciate the magnitude of the achievement, Rosecrans replied to him, "I beg in behalf of this army that the War Department may not overlook so great an event because it is not written in letters of blood."
***
In general, so to speak, Rosecrans reminds me of Bart Starr in that their overall brilliance, obvious character, and meticulous attention to detail has allowed them to be basically underrated by contemporary observers and subsequent historians.
Both Rosecrans and Starr were steely and steady in the midst of battle, and even daring when the situation called for it, but also rather understated.
It's sad that the greatness of each has gone underappreciated as a matter of basic fairness, but also because of our own self-interest in these days of turmoil as history in the making.
If we don't recognize the attributes of authentic greatness, we are likely to pass over true heroes in our moments of direst emergency and desperate need.

We act as if nobody ever plays their 1s in preseason, when it turns out a lot of teams do. We've complained about the Packers' 2s getting pushed all over the place in preseason games for years because other teams were throwing a bunch of their 1s out there. I think 1s getting preseason snaps is less risky than we make it out to be.

What I'm looking for against Cleveland...
...getting the defense some live snaps against a non-practice opponent so that they can start making adjustments and calls in that environment. There will be very little game-planning, so it's mostly just getting comfortable with the guys next to them and responding to what they see. With so many returning guys, I think it's most valuable up the middle of the defense where some of the new starters are.
...sorting out the 2s and 3s on the OL. This is what gives me the most angst right now as they head toward September. With the 1s sitting most of the night, this will give some of these guys opportunities to play themselves onto the radar. Meyers may be gone this next off-season, and Tom, Walker, and Rhyan all have their contracts come up after 2025. We're not hearing much about these guys making plays in practice which makes OL depth a real concern.

The other aspect is that it is a long season. And resting players now may be beneficial at the end of the season ... Eg ravens always falter