Arthur Smith and the coaching staff have gone out of their way thus far in preseason to keep starters off the field, with only Younghoe Koo, Kaleb McGary, Josh Andrews, Isaiah Oliver and Fabian Moreau receiving any kind of playing time to this point. Smith has indicated that starters will get some time in the preseason finale against the Cleveland Browns, but until we see it, there’s certainly reason to be skeptical given what we’ve seen up to this point.
However, in an interesting interview with Rich Eisen—I recommend it for Lee Smith jokes and COVID-19 talk, as well—Smith affirmed that the team intends to play everybody, hedging only a bit for Matt Ryan and Kyle Pitts.