2024 Hall of Fame Game

Football is on Tonight! Sort of!

Kickoff: 8 PM ET/5 PM PT

How to Watch: ESPN, ESPN+, Fubo, NFL+

Who’s Playing?

With the extra game, the Bears will not be playing starters, and Tyson Bagent will get the start at quarterback. Eberflus was asked about top overall pick Caleb Williams starting the 2nd game, but didn’t offer an answer just yet.

The Texans are in a similar spot, sitting C.J. Stroud and most of the other starters, and will be using this as a starting point to settle some camp roster battles in the “depth” part of the depth chart.

If you’re wondering on the rest of the QBs for DFS/betting, it’s clear as mud like usual. My best guess after reading a bunch of stuff: it’s likely going to be Bagent for a quarter or so, then Brett Rypien with Austin Reed cleaning up. For the Texans it's Davis Mills most likely followed by Tim Boyle and Case Keenum, but I’m not really sure in what order.

I saw a few tweets come across the timeline today. They were already VERY confident in backing a Keenum under 70.5 yards prop, and I would certainly caution folks to take it easy on stuff like this.

I tracked QB usage closely last preseason, and there did not seem to be rhyme nor reason for some of the decisions on who come in out of the bullpen, in what order, and for how long. I’d expect Mills to play the most, but with the backup QB battle up in the air, any of the three Texans QBs getting a chunk of time closer to a full half of football wouldn’t surprise me.

Demetric Felton, Dameon Piece, John Metchie, and a few other fringe starters are expected to get some reps tonight.

Caleb Williams

As for the Rookie superstar in Chicago, Eberflus is quoted as saying that he would get somewhere in the range of “45 to 55 reps” in the preseason. This equates to roughly 8-10 drives, with four games to play. I’d expect over half of that prescribed football to come in one of them.

Two of their three remaining games are on the road, and you’d think they’d want to do the fans a service and play him a bit at home vs Cincinnati in a few weeks, but that is a game following a joint practice with the Bengals, so who knows?

Betting

Nothing for me tonight. While I usually advocate for a blind under here, there are a few too many quarterbacks in this with actual NFL starts under their belt, and a handful of skill-position players with real upside in this game.

I’ll probably just go make a DFS lineup with all the defenses and kickers like usual.

Other stuff to watch for Tonight:

• Shane Waldron makes his “debut” as Bears’ OC. It’s the preseason, so we won’t learn much, but it’s still something.

• Houston is at least a half dozen deep at WR, and some of the depth charts need to be sorted out… starting tonight.

• It's also a bit of a battle for CB spots in Houston, with vets like Jeff Okudah joining the fray.

• According to WindyCityGridiron: Bears Rookie Edge Austin Booker: “During practice, he has gotten some reps with the ones, so it will be interesting to see just how good he plays. The Bears didn’t sign a veteran pass rusher as expected, so Booker needs to make a splash as a rookie.”

• But the only real thing to get excited about is… the new Kickoff, finally.

There have already been plenty of quotes from fired-up Special Teams Coordinators about the drastic changes. Here’s a nice article about the new rule that I enjoyed.

Who’s getting Inducted?

Pretty solid class, but it makes me feel old as hell. These are the players of my youth. Fitting that Hester is going in as we debut what could be the start of making kickoffs fun again.

• DE Dwight Freeney, Colts

• LB Randy Gradishar, Broncos

• KR/PR Devin Hester, Chicago Bears

• WR Andre Johnson, Houston Texans

• DT Steve McMichael, Patriots

• DE Julius Peppers, Panthers

• LB Patrick Willis, 49ers

Preseason Research

As I said before, I did my best to document all 49 preseason games last year in an effort to find some attack surface this summer based on tendencies and philosophy.

Obviously, a lot goes out the window each year with coaching changes, the necessity of getting young QB reps, and general roster changes. 

That said, one thing that helped last summer was monitoring joint practices. You seemed to get more quotes and a better understanding of who would be playing when the two teams strapped on the lids and headed to the stadium.

Here’s a full list for this upcoming season, starting with the crosstown SoCal teams that will be getting together Sunday:

Other Notes:

• Wirfs inks a new (big) deal with the Bucs

• D’Onta Foreman was airlifted to hospital after a camp injury

• Pats Matthew Judon returns to practice; claims he’s not holding out

• Tarik Cohen is retiring from the NFL

• My guy Patrick has some thoughts on his Bears for tonight

• Watch/Listen to all our NFL Previews on YouTube