The calendar has literally just flipped to August, which means it’s real football season at last. At least the version that masquerades as such that’s called the NFL pre-season. And as it has since the NFL-AFL merger, that exhibition opener will take place on the halloweed gridiron adjacent to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, and on the earliest date since 2000.
But while there will be teams wearing the uniforms of the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears competing and trying to siphon off at least a sliver of the massive audience watching the NBCU family of networks and platforms for the ABC/ESPN combo, you’ll likely not recognize most of those who actually will be playing.
As THE ATHLETIC’s Hannah Vanbiber cautioned in her report on how to bet the game (because enough fools out there WOULD try and bet a pre-season opener):
The odds have Houston as narrow favorites after opening with Chicago on top. The odds flipped Tuesday afternoon with the news Chicago would not be playing its rookie starting quarterback Caleb Williams. Perhaps the biggest question of this year’s game was whether No. 1 pick Williams would get any playing time for the Bears. Tuesday, the team announced that Williams will not make his debut in the game. With Thursday’s game coming just a week after the first padded practice, it makes sense the team wants to be cautious with its new starting quarterback. He is more likely to make his debut in preseason Week 1 in Buffalo.
And on top of that:
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans has played coy with questions about whether his star quarterback C.J. Stroud will play any snaps Thursday, but it is unlikely. Ryans said he wants to use this extra preseason game to let the team’s younger players get as many reps in as possible. On whether the team would play Stroud, Ryans said Monday: “We’ll see. Thursday.” Can we translate coachspeak for “Absolutely not”?
So much for the two name passers. So who will be playing? CBS SPORTS’ Josh Edwards jostles our memories with a few to look out for:
After starting four games for Chicago last season, Bagent has embraced his role as the backup since the team picked USC quarterback Caleb Williams No. 1 overall. Bagent was recently asked if he had done enough for the team to have confidence in him as the primary backup.
“I might not be getting better, necessarily, at football when I’m doing a workout like that,” Bagent said. “However, the mental edge it gives me in finding out what I can endure versus what the next man can endure, in a sense gives me a little mental edge when I show up to things like [training camp] and people start complaining about our schedule. I can have somewhere in the back of my head that I have done things far worse than this
Former No. 3 overall selection Derek Stingley Jr. has been fantastic, but injuries have limited his game-day availability. Houston has tried out veterans like Steven Nelson and Jeff Okudah across from Stingley, but Lassiter could provide long-term stability. The second-round pick out of Georgia did not exactly dominate the athletic testing portion of the pre-draft process, but his college tape was really good. Lassiter has the potential to take some of the pressure off Stingley and capitalize on a Texans pass rush that has added Danielle Hunter, Derek Barnett, Will Anderson Jr. and Jerry Hughes over the past year-plus.
Going into the 2024 NFL Draft, I felt as though Stover was an ideal eventual replacement to George Kittle in San Francisco because the former is tough and committed to being a run-blocking asset. Although he did not land with the 49ers, the next-best scenario occurred when the Texans picked him. Offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik hails from the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree and deploys a similar offense. Veteran Dalton Schultz is essentially playing on a two-year deal and Stover has the preseason to state his case for extended playing time.
If you’re truly dopey enough to visit FanDuel or call your neighborhood answer to Sebastian Maniscalco, Vanbiber does give you this to ponder:
Score prediction: Bears 20, Texans 16
Outlook: Bagent, the Bears’ backup quarterback, is very determined to show he can be a starter in the NFL. Bagent, who is from Division II Shepherd University, has played well in training camp. The Bears went 2-2 in games he started last year as a rookie.
I, for one, will shun the temptation, mostly because I literally don’t have enough in my bank account to even hazard a stab. But I do plan to try my luck at fantasy football later this year, glutton for punishment that I am. And you never know when knowing a backup Houston Texan might actually matter down the road.
Courage…