As part of the NFL's move to a 17-game regular season schedule for 2021 approved earlier this week, the preseason will be cut to three games for most teams -- save the two teams that play in the Hall of Fame Game.
Those teams will still play four games. And this year, that includes the Steelers, who face the Cowboys in the NFL's annual kickoff to the preseason on Aug. 5 in Canton, Ohio.
The preseason itself, however, will still be the same length, as the NFL's adjustment for the increased regular season includes pushing the Super Bowl back a week. Teams will now play their preseason games and then have two full weeks off before the start of the regular season.
"There is now an off week in there," Steelers president Art Rooney II told the team's web site. "What would have been Preseason Week 4 under the old format is now an off week. So there is now essentially a bye week (for everybody) before the season starts, and so that will be an adjustment for coaches and players in terms of how that fits into preparing for the opener. That was part of what we negotiated with the players."
Under the old preseason schedule, all 32 teams would play a Thursday night game in Week 4 of the preseason then have cut downs to 53 players by that Saturday, giving teams a week to set their rosters and prepare for the start of the regular season. Now, teams will have two weeks to prepare.
That's also good news for the Steelers, who go to Saint Vincent College most years -- last year being the notable exception -- for training camp. Typically, the school's students return to the dorms in mid-August, so had the league pushed the start of training camps back, it might have ended that situation for the Steelers.
The NFL also sent out a memo to its teams this week telling them they can begin their offseason OTAs virtually April 19. The NFLPA would prefer to have no in-person workouts again this year, but that's largely a non-starter with the NFL.
But until more players are vaccinated for COVID-19, the league is holding off on in-person OTAs and minicamps -- at least for now.
"April 19 was when we were going to originally start, but until we get through the time where more people are being vaccinated and things like that, I wouldn't call it normal," Rooney said. "We're still going to have different protocols with regard to testing and social distancing and keeping the numbers down in terms of players in the locker room or weight room at any one time. There still will be protocols we'll be following, and those are still under discussion with the Players Association as we speak."
The NFL isn't mandating that players are vaccinated. But it is being strongly encouraged for players, team employees and potentially for fans, as well.
"That's something where we're still going to be waiting for guidance from public authorities on that. There is discussion, and there are places right now that are requiring a vaccination card for admission. I know there is discussion about that, both at a federal level and at a state level, and whether there are going to be policies that will be agreed upon, we'll wait and see how that goes," Rooney said. "We're waiting for more guidance. Our position on it is we're not taking a position right now on requiring people to be vaccinated until we get to see more of the developments regarding federal policy and state policies."