When does the 2018 NFL preseason start?

Fans are undoubtedly craving any kind of on-field action that they can get after a long summer, so when does the 2018 NFL preseason get underway?

For any sane — or not so much — NFL fan, the summer can be long and grueling due to the general lack of football being played. Minicamps and OTAs only hold you over so much as we aren’t privy to a great deal of the action taking place on the field. Thus, fans are pining for any kind of games to actually be played, meaning that fans are looking forward to the 2018 NFL preseason.

Of course, we all know that the NFL preseason isn’t the same as the regular season. But hey, it’s football being played by professional players, and that’s better than the alternative that many have had to deal with throughout the dog days of the summer months. Thus, we’ll sit through games where it’s largely just second- and third-string players doing the work on the gridiron.

So how long do we as fans have to wait until the 2018 NFL preseason actually gets underway? And when do we have to look forward to throughout the rest of the preseason?

Game action officially gets underway with the NFL Hall of Fame Game on Thursday, Aug. 2. That contest in Canton, OH will feature two highly fascinating teams in the Chicago Bears and the Baltimore Ravens. The good news for NFL fans is that we’ll likely get some fireworks in this one courtesy of Ravens rookie Lamar Jackson.

As for the rest of the 2018 NFL preseason, the first official games will be played starting on Thursday, Aug. 9 and lasting through Aug. 13. After that, there will be additional preseason games played each of the next four weeks.

Next: NFL Power Rankings 2018: Post-minicamp edition

Obviously many will be waiting for what comes after those four weeks: the regular season. Again though, we just want some football at this point. And these are the dates that we’ll be getting at least a small dose of that to start things out with.