It might seem like a very long time, but the truth is we're only a month away from the youngest players in the National Football League reporting back to their respective teams that drafted them for the start of training camp. From there, veterans will descend from their offseason vacation destinations and extracurricular activities and get back to work with a goal of trying to upset the Kansas CIty Chiefs in their bid to repeat as Super Bowl champs.
The first order of business for every team at this point in the summer is figuring which players will make the active roster, and that means paring down the number of players under contract from 90 to 53. That sorting process is largely helped by the presence of the NFL's preseason schedule as players compete in summer exhibitions intended to separate the best performers from the rest of the competition.
These days, unfortunately for fringe roster players, there are fewer preseason games than ever for a team to use to generate game tape to see what they have on hand. The Kansas City Chiefs, like almost every other team, will play only three preseason games, which means prospects and developmental players only have a limited amount of time and opportunity to make their presence felt.
The league used to have four exhibitions in the preseason, but as part of the collective bargaining agreement to move things to a 17-game regular season, the league agreed to pare back the number of preseason games.
The interesting exception is that both the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets will be playing in four preseason games this year as well. Both franchises are participating in the opening game of the preseason in the Hall of Fame game, which means they'll go to work in an official competition earlier than anyone else. That gives them a bit more time to sort through the roster options.