“Exhibition games should be abolished in today’s NFL”

No Aiden Hutchinson.

No Jahmyr Gibbs.

Taylor Decker, Cam Sutton and C.J. Gardner Johnson did not suit up either.

Some Lions did not play in Saturday’s 25-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars because they were injured. Most did not play because they were trying to avoid getting injured. Welcome to the new pre-season version of the NFL when it is big news that Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes plays and it is not news when Jared Goff sits two preseason games to ensure he is healthy enough to play against Patrick Mahomes in the season opener.

Those who hate the Lions will point to the Jags game and say this team is no better than the Same Ol Lions yesterday. Those who know better will say Lions coach Dan Campbell played guys who may never see the field during the regular season and know what we saw Saturday is no reflection on the true Lions team.

Afterwards Campbell tried to explain this exhibition as if it were a real football game.

“It was tough,” Campbell said. “”We couldn’t get into a rhythm and it just kind of felt like there was always one guy that would — we were taking turns offensively messing something up. … Offensively, one guy messes up, it’ll mess the whole thing up and it’s rarely do you ever come out on the other side.”

Teams have discovered they no longer need these money grabbing scams called exhibition games in order to prepare for the season. The Lions got most of their quality work last week during joint practices with the Jags. They were able to put their starting offense and defense against the Jag starters.

The same was true the week before during joint practices with the New York Giants.

Now that we know that the Lions don’t need the exhibition season, neither do the fans. I propose that the NFL do away with exhibition games. Or at the very least do not charge fans NFL prices.

How about 10 bucks per ticket? These games aren’t worth it. Lions fans want to see their team play. So far they’ve gotten to see mostly backups and impostures hit the field.

The NFL includes these meaningless games as part of the season ticket package. It’s a shame and a rip off.

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For more from the author Terry Foster, check him out on Twitter here: @terryfosterdet

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