NFL Rumors: Here’s Who Won’t Play For Patriots In Preseason Opener

It sounds like it’ll be at least another week before Mac Jones and the starting Patriots offense play against players other than their own teammates.

Jones and most of New England’s starters are not expected to play in Thursday night’s preseason opener against the New York Giants, according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss and Dan Graziano. There had been growing speculation that Jones would sit out the game, and now it seems he indeed will take the night off.

Here’s Reiss’ report:

It’s an interesting decision, given how significantly Jones and the first-team offense have struggled during training camp. You could argue they need as much work as possible to get things going in a positive direction, especially with only three preseason games on the schedule.

That said, the Patriots likely want to avoid risking injuries in what is a meaningless, typically vanilla contest.

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