Chicago Bears coach Matt Nagy won't rest starters during preseason
It's still anybody's guess what the NFL preseason will look like, if one exists, amid the coronavirus pandemic, but Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy is already thinking about exhibition games and how he'll handle those warmup contests.
Per Bryan Perez of NBC Sports Chicago, Nagy spoke with the "Waddle & Silvy Show" of ESPN 1000 in Chicago on Friday about his decision to rest offensive starters during last year's preseason.
"As we talk, that's one of the things that I look back at from last year that I'm not happy about that I made a decision to do in the preseason," Nagy said. "Number one, I think it's good for them to have it, but number two it sets the mentality. So that's not going to happen this year."
The NFL preseason was a polarizing topic long before Nagy accepted the Chicago gig in January 2018. As Scott Thompson of SNY wrote in August of that same year, current Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. suffered a noteworthy injury while featuring for the New York Giants in a preseason game versus the Browns in 2017.
As Herbie Teope wrote for NFL.com last June, it seems as if it's a matter of when, not if, the NFL, its owners, and the NFL Players Association agree to a new collective bargaining agreement that includes a shortened or otherwise altered preseason to ensure players remain healthy leading up to games that count in the standings and toward paychecks.
For now, though, Nagy is planning to have his starters on the field this August for at least some action.
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