The New England Patriots have announced the date and times of the 2016 preseason games. The regular season schedule will be released later today.
The Patriots will officially kick off the 2016 season on August 11th against the New Orleans Saints. Saints head coach Sean Payton is a friend of Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and a joint practice is likely. The Patriots have also entered preliminary talks about joint practices with the Bears, per ESPN's Mike Reiss.
The full schedule is below:
Thursday, August 18: Chicago Bears 8:00 p.