Detroit Lions: Does the preseason really mean anything?

Every NFL coach will tell anyone who listens what an important tool the exhibition season is. They will say it is the foundation for building their roster and to some degree, they will be telling the truth. But the more established the roster is, the fewer openings there are. I can tell you that there are a lot fewer roster openings in New England than there are in Miami.

But filling the bottom third of the roster, which is pretty close to the normal in the NFL, is also an important job. Those are the players that have to be able to contribute on special teams and provide the depth needed to fill in when the injury bug ravages a team.

So is the preseason crucial to the NFL? Yes and no. Having live scrimmages is essential for preparing players for the season and as a tool for determining which players will make the team. But they can be scheduled between teams on the practice field. They can still have officials on-site to call the scrimmage and get just as much out of it as they can in a half-empty stadium.

Or if they are insistent on having them played in front of their fans, how about making the games free of charge? That doesn’t mean fans wouldn’t have to pay for parking or concessions, but if they were at least not charging for the game itself, that would make the experience more worthwhile.

Now having said all of that, I admit that I will be like many other fans who are watching from home, or in my case today on the road, and doing my best to scrutinize the Lions talent like Matt Patricia himself will be doing. Because that is exactly what these games are about.

Does the preseason mean anything? From a coaching and team-building standpoint, absolutely. From an entertainment point of view, not as much. But here’s the lowdown. If Matt Patricia and the other coaches in the NFL don’t get this part right, they’ll usually pay for it during the season. And all Lions fans know exactly how that works.