5 NFL teams hurt the most by not having a preseason
By Randy Gurzi
5. Indianapolis Colts
One team that could find themselves behind the eight-ball thanks to the cancellation of the preseason is the Indianapolis Colts. This franchise had a wrench thrown into their plans in 2019 when Andrew Luck decided to retire just weeks before the franchise was set to meet for training camp.
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They were fortunate enough to have Jacoby Brissett available but he wasn’t the same caliber quarterback Luck was. In the end, they were 7-9 and found themselves looking for an answer in the offseason.
Indianapolis decided their best bet was to land Philip Rivers, the former Los Angeles Chargers starter who had been with that team since 2004. Rivers doesn’t have many years left in him but he’s expected to be the bridge starter while Indy preps rookie Jacob Eason.
Rivers is an excellent player for Eason to work behind and the veteran should have no problem learning the new offense. The only issue is, he won’t have the in-game experience with his new receivers that he could have had in the preseason.
Thankfully for the Colts, the rest of the offense — and the majority of the defense ‚— is going to be the same as the year prior so as long as they can get Rivers and his pass-catchers on the same page, they should be fine. Still, those practice games could have helped him ease into the new team just a little.