You’re having a nice, relaxing summer and then, all of a sudden, it’s a Thursday night and Ben DiNucci pops on your television screen. Preseason football. Desperation sacks from bottom-of-the-rung fourth-stringers. Mike McCarthy feigning interest deep into the third quarter, trying to perfect his, face. Meaningless booth chatter about Garrett Gilbert’s strong offseason. Football is even if it’s not really yet. It’s like the moment each spring when the local news starts warning you about cicadas. Your life is to change for a little while.
It places some urgency on getting caught up. After spending a week bouncing between a few camps and getting reacquainted with the tidal wave of football news that’s about to hit once the Olympics end—speed-climbing is incredible, by the way—it’s clear we’re in for a strange 2021. Rarely has there been a training camp with this much heft and we’re only a few weeks in. There are established quarterbacks beginning to wiggle loose, preparing another tectonic shift. There are coaches making noise. There are legitimate red flags flying in a few camps. There are, obviously, some well-earned hype trains beginning to formulate at the station.
There are also conjured figments of nothingness being puffed up in areas of the country where there is not much football to discuss.
Let’s play a little game evaluating these stories for validity. Are they going to matter in a month? Six months? Let’s rate them on the Football Relevance Over Sustained Time scale, or for short. (Also, inquire below as to how you can become certified and help us determine future relevance.)
A score of 10 is highly relevant six months from now, where a score of zero means this is merely training camp flotsam.
