The NFL officially returned for the first full week of football since February. The preseason is not as competitive as the regular season, but it can still be entertaining to watch and analyze. Some players, who fans have never heard of, perform well and make fans around the league, and internal competitions for starting jobs never get old. These are the top performances from week one of the NFL preseason.
Tanner McKee showed off his impressive accuracy on Thursday night against the Cincinnati Bengals. While the Philadelphia Eagles opted to use their backups and rest their starters, McKee was facing the Bengals’ starters.
McKee threw for 252 yards and two touchdowns as Philadelphia took down Cincinnati. His performance showed why the Eagles traded Kenny Pickett to the Cleveland Browns and promoted McKee to be Jalen Hurts’ backup.
Eric Rogers is a name that few would know, but he made a major impact on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints. He recorded two interceptions, including a 43-yard pick six, in the Los Angeles Chargers’ 27-13 victory.
Rogers signed with Los Angeles as an undrafted free agent and attended college at Rutgers. The 23-year-old gave himself a chance to make the Chargers’ 53-man roster with this performance. If he does not make the roster in Los Angeles, he certainly puts his name out there for many NFL teams and their practice squads.
Cam Little is the Jacksonville Jaguars kicker and made what would be an NFL record 70-yard field goal before halftime on Saturday. He made all four of his field goal attempts, all of which were over 40 yards.
Little had a performance that shows preseason football can be fun. Nobody would expect a kicker to be a top performer, and certainly nobody expected an NFL record would be put to the test like that.
The preseason will never be a huge talking point for the casual fan. It features players that many have not heard of and probably never will. That is what makes it fun for the fans who just love football. A kicker being a top performer, an undrafted free agent competing to make an NFL roster, and a backup QB beating out a team’s starting defense. That’s just preseason football.
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