Preseason Finale (Your Football IQ)

This is it. 32 teams are in the later stages of gearing up for their seasons and since every team, especially <YOUR TEAM HERE>, has at least a chance to play in the Super Bowl, you should be very excited! You’ve watched your starters play approximately 1.5 games over the last three weeks and you’re either excited that your team has a newly discovered weapon (a la Victor Cruz, 2010) or grateful that your team has jettisoned a seemingly worthless player (a la Nate Jones, 2011). No matter what boat you’re in, you and I are ready for the season to commence, so please turn off Madden for a second and let me wrap up the preseason.

First of all, we have the waiver wire to attend to. The order for waiver pickups is the reverse order of finish from last year, which simply means the bad teams get first dibs on the newly waived players. The difference between “waiving” and “releasing” a player comes down to experience. Players with less than 4 accumulated years of service in the league are designated as waived and are subject to the waiver wire. If no team makes a claim for a waived player, said player joins the free agency pool. Players with 4 or more seasons played immediately become free agents. Teams will be trying to get their rosters down to the 53-player limit by September 3^rd, so there will be a huge influx in free agents and a flurry of activity on the waiver wire as teams with surpluses of talent in certain areas will be forced to cut players who actually might be good. Additionally, teams will be trying to waive young players in order to sign them to the practice squad, which usually happens in the case of undrafted free agents who the team determines has some upside or for some late-round picks who just don’t fit the team at that point. So while you’re watching the final round of preseason games, keep in mind that quite a few of the players may have a different jersey on the next time you see them.

I’m not going to recommend any specific games this week because I honestly can’t think of a reason to watch other teams second and third squads battle it out unless you work in a front office somewhere. Instead, take the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the bench players for your team and to improve your football IQ. Part one is nearly self explanatory: some of the players on the field for the second half of the last game of the preseason may become very valuable down the line due to injuries or other circumstances. Part two is a little more complex. If you’re more of a casual fan, you might want to stick to part 1, but if you like a little spice in your football stew, try and identify what plays are being called and why. Take some time to research personnel groupings and blocking schemes and see if your new knowledge makes a difference in how you see the game. What I do not mean by this is to randomly guess the play calling or shouting who just got called for a false start; actually learn a little bit about the complexities of the game and I promise it will improve your viewing experience.