NFL preseason: The most interesting position battles going into week 3

We’re heading into the final week of the NFL preseason and the position battles are heating up. While some of the battles have had clear and obvious winners already, some are still quite uncertain.

The preseason may not carry all the excitement of the regular season, but it can have glimpses of breakout players and unexpected takeovers at different positions. That’s what makes it interesting. There are position battles going on throughout the league in every single team, though the battle for third string running back isn’t exactly the most captivating. So here, we take a look at the intense battles that will have a direct impact come week 1 of the regular season.

Pittsburgh Steelers QB1 Battle: Mitch Trubisky vs Kenny Pickett

At the moment, it still seems that Mitch Trubisky has the starting quarterback job for the Steelers. He’s been taking all of the first-team reps at practices. Rookie Kenny Pickett is doing his best to challenge Trubisky for that spot, though. On Saturday, Pickett had just eight snaps, but each one required him to make quick decisions, and he came through.

Trubisky, the 2017 no. 1 overall draft pick, went 9 of 15 passing for 123 yards and a touchdown in his limited playing time in the last two preseason games. He had zero turnovers and 14 rushing yards on two scrambles. So far, so good.

“I thought Mitch played well,” said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. “I thought he created and extended some things when there wasn’t much there. But we’ve got to do a better job of protecting him and having some semblance of a run game if you want a fair evaluation, and I’m just being bluntly honest.”

Kenny Pickett was the 20th overall pick in this year’s draft and so far, he’s proven to be a valuable pickup. In the preseason so far, he has completed 19 of 22 passes for 171 yards and three touchdowns. One of those TDs was an impressive last-minute, game-winning touchdown drive with three seconds left against the Seahawks. So far, he’s looked poised and calm under pressure and his footwork has been impressive.

“It’s probably who he is,” Tomlin said. “I know he did it next door (at Pittsburgh). He probably did it in high school and he probably did it in little league. Some things, people are born with.”

We also can’t rule out Mason Rudolph from the mix. Coach Mike Tomlin gave him quite a lot of time in week 2 (he took 29 snaps) and has been looking like he provides good competition to the mix as well. He’s not quite as precise or quick as his fellow QBs though, and he recently dropped to No. 3 behind Pickett after the rookie’s impressive debut.

For the final preseason game, the Steelers play the Detroit Lions this Sunday at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh. Tomlin explained that this game will be like a final test for who gets the starting job in week 1, so pay attention.

“This work is weighted differently, and appropriately so,” said Tomlin. “The in-stadium work is significant, and increasingly so with the more stadium exposure you get. So make no mistake, this is a significant game for a lot of people.”

The Steelers’ final preseason game against the Detroit Lions kicks off Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Seattle Seahawks QB1 Battle: Geno Smith vs Drew Lock

This is one battle that is looking so even, the Seahawks may be considering having two starting quarterbacks.

At the start of training camp, it was Geno Smith who was in the lead.

“Geno continues to be on top, he’s ahead, he’s been in the lead for all the obvious reasons, and he’s holding onto it and doing a really good job of battling,” Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said earlier in August.

At that time, Smith had yet to play a preseason game, so this was based on what Carroll saw at the first week of training camp. Since preseason started, Smith has been the quarterback to start each preseason game, though that was due to Drew Lock being out with covid-19 for a while and unable to play. As for the preseason finale against the Cowboys on Friday, Caroll said that Smith will start yet again, but that Lock will “play a lot”.

In the Seahawks’ preseason opener against the Steelers, both Smith and Lock got playing time. Smith had a drive that got them 10 points, and Lock had back-to-back touchdown drives in his first two series. In the second preseason game against the Bears, Smith didn’t exactly maximize on his opportunity to show off.

“We didn’t throw and catch the ball as well as we needed to. We didn’t catch the ball. We missed a couple key third-down situations. We got a ball knocked down. We got no rhythm at all early in the game to get going. . . . We didn’t perform at all like we should.” said Carroll.

So, the competition is on. The Seahawks’ preseason finale will be this Friday against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium at 8 p.m. ET.

Washington Commanders RB1 Battle: Antonio Gibson vs Brian Robinson

Washington running back Antonio Gibson is coming off of a 1,000-yard rushing season and yet...he was relegated to special teams reps in training camp last week. Now, RB Brian Robinson also took special teams reps, but he is a third-round pick who was expected to be a backup, so that’s not so strange. Then, on Saturday’s Week 2 game, Gibson returned the opening kickoff and Robinson started the game. Gibson had two carries for three yards and three receptions for 37 yards. Robinson had eight rush attempts for 31 yards.

Before this year, it was always Gibson leading the RBs in Washington, followed by J.D. McKissic. But last season, Gibson had nearly as many fumbles (6) as he did touchdowns (7). Enter, Brian Robinson. And now we’ve got some competition.

With two preseason games down, Robinson has emerged as the better ball-carrier on the Washington team. Coach Ron Rivera said of Gibson, he needs to “run harder”. In the preseason opener, just after Gibson fumbled a ball, Robinson made his debut and had 41 yards on eight touches.

“There’s always been a competition for the positions on this team,” said Rivera.

The Commanders will play the Baltimore Ravens for their final preseason game this Saturday at 6 p.m. ET at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

Denver Broncos WR1 Battle: Courtland Sutton vs Jerry Jeudy

The Broncos are set at the wide receiver position. They have a lot of talent with Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, KJ Hamler, and fifth-round draft pick Montrell Washington. The question is, which order will they fall in?

It seems that Washington has the lock as the return specialist and Hamler seems to be a pretty secure WR3. So who wins the WR1 competition between Sutton and Jeudy? Now that Tim Patrick is out for the year with a knee injury, it will be those two who see the most time. Though QB Russell Wilson has been quite diverse as far as where he moves the ball in training camp, he has shown that he’s more inclined to throw to Sutton when he’s looking for a reliable catch. That’s just training camp, though. Jeudy provides competition as a route-runner and pass-catcher. Sutton may have a slight edge, with a bit more experience and a 1,000-yard season to his name, but Jeudy is not far off.

The Broncos play their final preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings this Saturday at 9 p.m. ET. at Empower Field at Mile High. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we’ll see much of the two receivers, though there is the possibility of seeing Hamler.

Arizona Cardinals RB2 Battle: Darrel Williams vs Eno Benjamin

The running back battle in Arizona is for the no. 2 spot. James Conner is the obvious RB1 for the Cardinals. The second in line is not so clear though. We’ve got two talented running backs competing for the spot with Darrel Williams and Eno Benjamin. Coach Kliff Kingsbury has admitted to having a difficult time deciding between the two.

In Week 2 of the preseason, Benjamin played 21 of 32 snaps, but Williams played earlier in the game.

When Williams was with the Kansas City Chiefs, he played a key role on the team and was vital to their success. In his four years with the Chiefs, he won a Super Bowl (2019), and since 2020, has had 248 touches, nine touchdowns, and 1,295 yards.

Benjamin has performed well in camps and Kingsbury has liked what he’s seen so far.

“I’ve been really impressed with Eno every time he gets a chance to run the football, and has really improved in the pass game,” said Kingsbury.

Benjamin was unimpressive in the preseason opener against the Bengals, though, carrying the ball just five times for 14 yards and missing a catch on his one target. Williams didn’t play that night, so it was all on Benjamin and he didn’t do much to take advantage of the chance. In game 2, he rushed four times for 12 yards and again, did not catch his one tarrget. He may have impressed in camp, but in the two preseason games, Benjamin has come up short. Williams only had one rush for three yards in his limited playing time last week. So, the finale should be a better indicator of who’s ahead in this competition.

This battle gets even more interesting with a recent rumor that Williams could be a possible cut or trade candidate.

The Cardinals will play their preseason finale against the Tennessee Titans this Saturday at 9 p.m. ET at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.