Every August, the same conversation hijacks the sideline shots showing some of the league's best players standing in street clothes: Should the starters play in the preseason or not? One side swears a couple series in August keep you sharp and save you from a sloppy September. The other side looks at the tape of star players limping off in a game that doesn’t count and says, “Why were they out there at all?”

The truth is messier than anybody wants to admit. Preseason football isn’t a clean proxy for the real thing, but it’s not totally useless either. It lives in that gray area where reps matter, timing matters, installs matter — but the cost of getting those reps can be enormous. Over the past decade, more coaches have decided the juice isn’t worth the squeeze, riding with joint practices and controlled scripts while keeping their top guys out of the television broadcast. Others still buy the small-dose approach: a series here, a quarter there, enough to taste the speed without leaving the starters in harm’s way for too long.

Why Playing Starters Can Help (In the Right Doses)

Live Speed Is Different — Especially for Quarterbacks

Practice is good. Joint practices are better. But nothing quite matches the chaos of a live pocket. Protection calls are louder and faster. Fronts stem late. Nickel pressures come from spots you didn’t draw up. That’s where a handful of preseason snaps can be useful, especially for quarterbacks with new play-callers or new receivers. It’s not about proving anything in August — it’s about getting the operation in sync so Week 1 feels familiar, not overwhelming.

There’s a reason coaches talk about timing like it's a living organism. You can drill the same concept all week and still need that one third-and-6 in a game to see where a receiver throttles down versus quarters, or how your center and guard pass off a mugged-up linebacker loop. You don’t need 40 snaps to learn that lesson. Sometimes you just need a few.

The Rust Problem Is Real

People who want to see starters playing in the preseason often point to the Cincinnati Bengals as Exhibit A. Since Joe Burrow arrived, Cincinnati has developed a habit of stumbling out of the gate with multiple 0–2 starts, even in seasons where they finished strong. Those slow Septembers get dragged down by timing issues, sluggish rhythm, and early miscommunications — things that a couple live August reps might have smoothed out. 

There's just no denying that teams that sit their starters roll into Week 1 looking a half-step off. Quarterbacks miss throws they normally hit. Receivers break at seven when the ball is out at five. Protection IDs are a beat late. After covid, around a third of starting QBs weren't playing a single preseason snap — and their combined Week 1 performance dipped noticeably compared to back in 2019, when only around five QBs sat out of preseason. The numbers don't lie.

Week 1 QB Production Trends Since 2019 (Average Across NFL)

In an era where offenses are more explosive and pass-heavy than ever, Week 1 passing production has slid backward — yards, touchdowns, completion percentage, and passer rating all taking a noticeable dip since 2019. That drop lines up almost perfectly with the surge in starting quarterbacks sitting out the preseason entirely. It’s tough to call that a coincidence, and for those in the “play your starters” camp, it’s a really solid argument that skipping live reps in August leaves a mark in September. 

The key is dosage. You’re not trying to “win” the preseason. You’re trying to get just enough live-speed reps that your timing, communication, and composure travel into the start of the season.

Andy Reid’s Small-Dose Model

Nobody’s been more comfortable giving his starters a taste of preseason than Andy Reid. Not full games. Not even full halves. Just enough for everybody to feel the speed, touch a third down, and get off the field in one piece.

Is Kansas City’s dynasty solely because of that choice? Obviously not. But it’s proof that limited August work and elite September football can live together without one ruining the other.

Why More Teams Are Sitting Starters Anyway

The Injury Math Keeps Slapping Coaches in the Face

Every coach has the same nightmare: a star player goes down in a game that technically doesn’t exist in the standings. You can sell “valuable reps” all you want; you can’t sell a season derailed before it starts. And the list of preseason injuries to frontline guys is long enough to make even the old-schoolers reconsider.

We’ve seen quarterbacks take unnecessary hits that change entire seasons. We’ve watched a starting wideout get rolled up on a routine quick game call. We’ve seen linemen catch a knee in a pile on the third snap of the night. It only takes one. When the core argument for playing is that you get some marginal gains, the counterargument of catastrophic injury is hard to beat.

Preseason Performance Doesn’t Predict Much

Here’s the part fans hate but coaches understand: August wins don’t turn into September wins. Teams look crisp in the preseason and get trucked in Week 1. Other teams look sleepy in August and walk into September humming. Individual preseason stats can be just as misleading. We’ve watched rookies drop everything in the dress rehearsal, then look like All-Pros by Halloween. We’ve watched veteran quarterbacks dice up backup corners in August and then struggle when the coverages get disguised and the windows tighten.

The McVay Effect Changed the Default Setting

Sean McVay didn’t invent resting starters, but he made it cool. Starting in 2018, the Rams essentially pulled the plug on preseason work for most frontline players, leaning into joint practices and scripted reps to get their install done. They did it in a big market, won a ton of games, and the rest of the league paid attention.

Rams vs. Rest of League Production in Weeks 1 & 2 (2018–2021)

Since then, preseason starter usage has fallen off a cliff. The “dress rehearsal” game is basically gone. Coaches copy what works and distance themselves from what doesn’t. The Rams showed you can sit big names in August and still play for trophies in February. That’s a powerful message in a copycat league.

Joint Practices Gave Coaches a Safer Tool

If preseason games are the wild west, joint practices are the fenced-off ranch. You can crank up the speed without exposing your quarterback to late hits. You can create the exact situations you want — red zone hot calls, two-minute mechanics, third-and-mediums against a team playing you straight up — without the randomness of special teams tackling your WR1 in space. And if something gets too chippy, the horn blows and everyone flips fields.

The rise of joint practices is the clearest reason so many starters don’t touch the preseason. If two full-speed days against another roster give you 60-plus competitive reps with fewer unknowns, that’s a more efficient way to prepare than a single series under the lights.

Where Preseason Reps Are Mostly Noise

Veteran Quarterbacks in Stable Systems

We all know the guys in this category — the established veterans who’ve been running the same offense for years and could probably recite the playbook in their sleep. They’ve already built chemistry with their pass catchers, they know exactly where the ball is going on any given concept, and they’ve seen every coverage disguise the league can throw at them.

For these quarterbacks, the idea of grinding through multiple preseason drives is like asking a chef to make scrambled eggs every morning for a month just to prove they remember how — it’s overkill. What they really need, if anything, is a couple of well-scripted throws at game speed to feel the timing, check the communication, and then grab a ball cap. Anything more than that is just inviting unnecessary hits.

Skill Players with a Known Workload

If you’re talking about the star running backs and high-volume receivers, the calculus is pretty simple: you already know what they can do, and they’re going to be carrying a massive share of the offense once the games count. That kind of workload means they need to take it easy in August — one awkward tackle or pile-up could derail the entire plan for your season. Nobody in the building needs to see a Pro Bowl back lower his shoulder into a linebacker in a game that won’t show up in the standings.

Defensive Line Rotations Built on Depth, Not Scheme

For defensive lines built around depth and brute force, August isn’t going to teach you much. These units win by rolling out waves of fresh pass rushers who attack one-on-one matchups until something breaks — not by perfecting a tricky coverage shell or exotic blitz. You’ll get all the pass-rush work you could ever want once the regular season starts, when opponents actually game plan and protections are set to slow you down.

What Fans See vs. What Coaches Feel

Fans want to see the starters. They paid for the seat, they want to see the show. Coaches want to get to Week 1 with their roster intact. Those priorities aren’t always aligned. So when you turn on a preseason game and see backups playing almost wire-to-wire, it isn’t because the starters are coddled. It’s because the league has priced the risk correctly.

Coaches remember the injuries forever. They remember the joint practice where their QB got 50 good throws with zero hits. They remember the “crisp August” that turned into a flat Week 1 anyway. Every one of those memories starts to shape their policies.

The Middle Is Where the Truth Lives

If you came here looking for a definitive verdict — play everybody or play nobody — you’re going to be disappointed. The actual answer is about context:

• A veteran QB who’s had the same OC for three years? He probably doesn't need many, if any, reps in the preseason.

• A new coordinator and an overhauled line? That group should play a handful of live series, then get out.

• A star receiver with a long history of soft-tissue issues? Protect him. Get your timing on the practice field.

• A defense installing a new language? Give the group a short preseason trial run so Week 1 doesn’t sound like a three-way phone call with bad service.

The modern game plan is targeted exposure, controlled environments, and ruthless risk management. If you’re looking for a rule, here it is: don’t make August decisions you’ll regret in October.