It's going to be a much different 2021 NFL season.
With the 17-game regular season, the season will obviously be a week longer, including the Super Bowl being playa week later than usual. Because of the extra regular-season game, there will be only three preseason games, and that isn't the only thing that will be different about the preseason.
According to NBC Sports' Peter King, the NFL will be going away from Thursday night preseason games and instead games will be played Friday-Sunday -- Aug. 13-15, Aug. 20-22 and Aug. 27-29.
"Why the change? The regular week-four games this year would have been played on a Thursday night, Sept. 2. Now Sept. 2-5 will be a bye weekend before the start of the regular season," King wrote.
Another scheduling note from King is ESPN will no longer have a doubleheader on the first Monday night of the season. Instead it will have a Saturday doubleheader in Week 18, the final week of the regular season.
The league plans on having two games Saturday, 13 Sunday and one Sunday night that week.
