Week 3 of the NFL preseason means it is time for dress rehearsals.
Fans and coaches likely think of it that way, at least. For the players themselves, it is one step closer to the date circled in red on the calendar: Sept. 2.
NFL teams will dole out rosters then, leaving plenty of names floating back into the free-agent pool or beginning a tug of war centered on practice squads. Some names will find new homes, others won't.
The gigantic total cuts help to explain why the preseason games are anything but meaningless for the players—and they shouldn't be for fans, either, not with the cut-down process by coaches searching to finalize the best possible rosters.