Philadelphia Eagles fortunate to avoid 2020 Hall of Fame Game

The Philadelphia Eagles avoided an extra preseason game in August after the NFL announced the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys will be participating in the 2020 Hall of Fame Game.

Even though the Philadelphia Eagles were a long shot to play in the 2020 Hall of Fame Game despite Harold Carmichael being selected to join Canton back in January, it was still a huge relief to hear the NFC East champions wouldn’t be participating.

On Tuesday, it was announced the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys would be participating in this year’s game on Aug. 6 since each team will have plenty of reasons to celebrate that weekend.

While the Eagles are obviously excited for Carmichael since the wideout has always been considered one of the best players in franchise history to suit up for Philadelphia, they should also feel thrilled over not having to worry about a fifth preseason game.

First off, the preseason in general is already considered to be too long by some when taking into consideration the current four-game system for teams not participating in the Hall of Fame Game seems to drag on each August.

Yes, it’s easy to make the case those four games is perfect for coaches to evaluate certain players looking to make a case for a roster spot, but also it can be frustrating and challenging as well.

Take a look at Philadelphia for example last August when they were forced to deal with Nate Sudfeld suffering an injury right away that resulted in the team eventually convincing Josh McCown to come out of retirement.

Preseason in general already puts certain players at risk for injuries, and adding a fifth game to the mix would not only put additional pressure on Doug Pederson after last year, but also force the head coach to come up with an extra game plan for another preseason contest.

After watching this team somehow finish on top of the NFC East last season despite all of the key injuries on both sides of the football, staying healthy is going to be key for Philadelphia in 2020 if they are going to have any shot at earning a fourth trip in a row to the playoffs.

Playing a fifth preseason game may not seem like the biggest deal in the world, but thank goodness it’s a non-issue for the Eagles since this means they will have one less meaningless contest to worry about come August.