Falcons at Lions Preseason Opener: How Much Will Starters Play?

The Falcons and Lions meet Friday night.

The Atlanta Falcons are days away from kicking off their preseason campaign, and they'll do so in the Motor City against the Detroit Lions.

While there's a lot of excitement in the air regarding preseason, there's also a lot of speculation on whether the top players will play or not.

Head coach Arthur Smith spoke with Lions coach Dan Campbell to get an idea of how long the starters will play in Friday's opener.

“I know they’re playing their starters early in this game, and I had already thought that was the way I wanted to go, too,” Campbell told media members. “So I’d like to get our starters some reps in this game, maybe a quarter. Because, there again, you just can’t mimic game speed and game intensity. The only way to get ready for a season is to simulate that intensity. But at the same time, I want to be smart, too.”

On the flip side, Smith may use the Falcons' first preseason game as a dress rehearsal for the entire team. Smith told reporters following training camp practice on Saturday that everybody could play against the Lions "if they’re healthy."

"We’ll still have some real training camp practices next week, but it shifts," Smith said. "We’ll have to travel; we have to go play a game. But you’re balancing two things right, you’re getting ready to go play a preseason game, managing whatever kind of strategies you want, and how many reps for everybody."

As two of the youngest teams in the NFL, the Falcons and Lions have a number of players who will benefit from preseason action.

The Detroit Lions will likely debut their No. 2 overall pick Aidan Hutchinson, while No. 8 overall pick Drake London will likely make his first appearance with the Falcons.

The unwritten rule of preseason will likely see the starters play a limited number of snaps this week, with a slight uptick in the second week before completely shutting down in the final preseason game.

However, the 2021 season marked the first three-game slate with a week off in between the final preseason contest and the regular-season opener. With that week off in between, the Falcons starters could see a good chunk of playing time in each of the games leading up to Week 1 against the New Orleans Saints.