How much should you expect Eagles starters to play in the preseason?

Raise your hand if you went to bed last night feeling like a fat guy in a red suit was about to slide down your chimney. Yessir! Yes ma'am! We've reached the preseason, and we don't care if most of the games will be boring. The Philadelphia Eagles are playing football again.

Sure, no one is really trying to win... except for Philly's Week 1 opponent, the Baltimore Ravens. We understand the playbooks will be vanilla, but despite weather concerns, there will be opportunities for proper evaluation. That's really all we care about.

We're fans of all sports, but this is better than spring training and summer league basketball. Hug those summertime friends. Tell them you'll call them in February.

Now, who should we expect to see playing in this one?

How much will we see the Eagles starters play during the preseason?

There are times when it's pointless to ask Philly's leadership a question. We may as well call NASA or the White House. Nick Sirianni isn't giving us anything.

"We don't have to make a decision about that right now". That's a Sirianni-ism. So is "I'll keep conversations with my players private." Now and then, however, we crack Davinci's code. We may not have to wait until game time to know who will be playing.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's Jeff McLane reports that team sources have told him the Eagles' plan is "to play their starters for a series in tonight’s preseason opener". He also states that we may also see them on the field longer, but that decision will be made "depending upon how the series goes."

Last year, the plan was to rest the starters in an attempt to keep everyone healthy. We'll probably see that theory employed more as we continue to move forward through the preseason slate.

In years past, when there were four preseason contests, starters often played a series in the first contest. Then, they played a quarter and the first half in the second and third games respectively before sitting out of the fourth.

The 17-game schedule led to the trimming of four preseason games to three. We'll see how Philly manages the workload as each game unfolds.

Update: Well, we have our answer. The starters took the field for warmups, but peeled out of their pads later. Kenny Pickett, Kenneth Gainwell, and the second-team offense took the field to start.

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