What The First NFL Schedule Leak Tells Us About Patriots First Four Opponents In 2020
BOSTON (CBS) --The 2020 NFL schedule is set to be released Thursday night, which means we'll spend much of the day being treated to leaked reports about said schedule. No matter how hard the league tries, the NFL just doesn't have enough thumbs to plug the dam.
The first leak came Wednesday, with Former ESPN NFL reporter John Clayton telling 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh that teams will open the first month of the season against non-conference opponents. For the Patriots, those matchups would be at home against the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers and on the road against the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams.
That means that sometime in September, Jimmy Garoppolo will be back in Foxboro for the first time as a 49er.
This is a good plan for the NFL, a nice safety net should the league have to cancel the first month of the season due to coronavirus pandemic. If the NFL does have to lose games off the schedule, these out-of- conference games won't affect playoff seeding further down the road.
It would be unfortunate that Patriots fans wouldn't get to see Jimmy G. again, but that's much better than losing an important divisional game against the Bills, Dolphins or Jets.
The full NFL schedule will be released shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday evening. For a quick refresher, here is the list of New England's opponents during the 2020 season.
Update: New leaks on Thursday seem to dispel Clayton's report on Wednesday. According to Saints reporter Nick Underhill, New Orleans will host Tom Brady and the Buccaneers in Week 1, which goes against Clayton's non-conference report.