The NFL preseason schedule exists in its current form — four games for 30 teams, and five for two — in part as another revenue-generating opportunity for the league, its broadcast partners and its clubs. Results in August, then, are probably of dubious value when starters play only in spurts and teams devote little time to game planning.
For example, starting quarterback Kirk Cousins logged only 71 preseason snaps over the Vikings' first three games before resting during Thursday's finale with the rest of the team's starters. Cousins will likely have full games in the regular season with more snaps than that, and he'll get them after having spent a week preparing for a specific opponent — which the Vikings rarely, if ever, do in the preseason.