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When all matters for the 2020 season were originally set into motion the Dallas Cowboys had five preseason games on their schedule. This included the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game as former head coach Jimmy Johnson along with former safety Cliff Harris were set to enter the HOF this year. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic that game and the surrounding festivities were delayed until 2021.
Dallas was then just like every other NFL team with four preseason games on their schedule. There have been some rumors floating around that the league could trim that number in half and on Wednesday that proverbial shoe finally dropped.
The NFL is cutting the preseason in half
It seems like the league is preparing for a number of possibilities throughout the 2020 season as there have reportedly been discussions about topics like trimming training camp rosters and flying to and from away games in a single day this season. Whenever all of that happens it will now take place after a shortened preseason, according to ProFootballTalk.
Week One and Week Four will be the preseason weeks that are scrapped, per source.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) July 1, 2020
The first and last weeks of the preseason for the Cowboys were scheduled to be against the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans, respectively. Those are reportedly the games that the league is trimming here so you can say goodbye to the annual preseason Governor’s Cup battle.
Coincidentally those were set to be the two preseason games that Dallas would travel for. As a result of this change the Cowboys will now host the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs. It’s hard to figure out which game will be the annual “dress rehearsal” although it is typically the third preseason game which would have been the contest against the Chiefs.
The NFL has also called off this year’s supplemental NFL Draft
In addition to the news of a shortened preseason another item concerning the league’s schedule came to light on Wednesday. The league has reportedly called off the supplemental draft.
The NFL just informed clubs it will not conduct a supplemental draft this year, per source.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) July 1, 2020
It is unlikely that the Cowboys would have been players in the supplemental draft, and for what it’s worth, the league conducted the NFL Draft in socially-distanced fashion. They obviously feel that it is the best move to cancel it altogether based on their move to do so.