Cardinals Preseason Schedule: Dates, Times and TV Channels

The Arizona Cardinals are ready to help the NFL begin preseason activities.

Thursday plays host to the league's Hall of Fame Game, where the Cardinals and Carolina Panthers play the NFL's first preseason battle of 2026 with other teams beginning next weekend.

As a result, the Cardinals have a total of four preseason matchups on the slate, allowing them an extra week of practice and game evaluation before the regular season gets underway.

Arizona's full schedule:

Full 2026 Arizona Cardinals Preseason Schedule

• NFL Hall of Fame Game: vs. Carolina Panthers (Thursday, Aug. 6 at 5:00 PM AZ Time, NBC)
• Week 1: AT Las Vegas Raiders (Thursday, Aug. 13 at 5:00 PM AZ Time, Arizona's Family)
• Week 2: vs. Dallas Cowboys (Saturday, Aug. 22 at 7:00 PM AZ Time, Arizona's Family + NFL Network)
• Week 3: AT Green Bay Packers (Friday, Aug. 28 at 5:00 PM AZ Time, Arizona's Family)

This is the first preseason under head coach Mike LaFleur, who has already made the decision to sit his starters in Canton.

"Everyone needs to play football, but there's that cost-risk benefit in terms of guys that have played a lot of football in this league. You know what they can do on Sundays, and you just want to get them there because the last thing that you want is a guy going down in a game that in the win-loss record does not matter," said LaFleur this week.

"At the same time, each guy has their own little deal of getting ready for that first game. So that's all the conversations that happen behind the scenes."

The Cardinals are hoping to rebound off a 3-14 season where changes at spots such as head coach and quarterback were made.

While the preseason ultimately won't count towards the record books, the Cardinals are eager to see how their squad fares against live competition as training camp begins to wind down.

"There's no coaches behind them. There's no coaches prepping them, except for obviously when they come to the sideline, we'll coach them up. It'll be cool to see just a lot of these guys' demeanors, if you will, when it's real, when the bullets are live," LaFleur added.

"Just because it's preseason and the win/loss doesn't count, it doesn't mean that this isn't real football. Guys are fighting their butts off to make teams, to put good product out there, to put good tape out there, and compete."