The NFL wants fewer preseason games, but is less football really better football? For the fans, fewer preseason games could mean fewer chances to see rookies, young players, and roster hopefuls make their case. Hence, former Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim has come forward to voice his concerns about the league’s decision to reduce preseason games.
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“One thing that I look at is what kind of product are we putting on the field? We’ve minimized with the CBA a lot of off-field rules,” Keim said on the Inside Football show. “We’ve also limited our preseason games to three and the physicality, the fundamentals of the game. How well are these teams going to play early on is my question.
“You know, there’s going to be a lot of missed tackles, questions about blocking, questions about assignments, and the unity of each team. Again, we talk about rosters going into the preseason, then you have to become a team and gel together. How are these teams going to play early on because of the offseason rules nowadays?”
The NFL reduced the preseason schedule on March 30, 2021. The team owners approved the change. The reduction took effect immediately, making the 2021 season the first time in 43 years that the league moved away from its traditional four-game preseason schedule.
The reduction was executed through the 2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which established a structural boundary capping the total number of combined preseason and regular-season games at 20 total games.
Since the CBA gave owners the option to trigger a 17-game regular season (which they did in 2021), the mathematics of the 20-game limit forced the preseason to drop from four games down to three games. However, the decision wasn’t taken without reason.
First off, a 17th regular-season game opened up financial streams as it allowed the league to negotiate a $100 billion media rights package with broadcast networks. Secondly, the NFLPA lobbied to reduce the preseason to eliminate unnecessary full-contact hits, and coaches and front offices widely agreed that a fourth preseason game was redundant for evaluating roster talent.
“We know what our starters can do,” former Chicago Bears HC and current New York Giants OC Matt Nagy said in 2019 before the change. “That’s just my view. The preseason is good for first-year coaches because it’s good to just go through the logistics of game day with everyone. That part is good. The rest…”
Steve Keim also weighed in on how the reduction in preseason games complicates the situation for first-season head coaches. Heading into the 2026 season, there are six HC’s who will be making their debut, including Buffalo Bills’ Joe Brady, Baltimore Ravens’ Jesse Minter, and Cleveland Browns’ Todd Monken.
“There’s no doubt. And that’s why I think that was our biggest takeaway was of the six new head coaches, you know, how are they going to handle the game management? And you know, again, these teams playing together and jelling is one. I mean, it’s a big deal,” Steve Keim said.
However, Joe Brady and Jesse Minter stand as two debutants who went 3-0 in the preseason games. Now, this observation also sheds light on how the ultimate complication or negative impact of the preseason game reduction might depend on a team’s constitution.