Following the completion of Week 1 of the NFL preseason, football fans checking television broadcast schedules for a Monday night matchup will find an empty evening slate.
The 2026 NFL exhibition calendar does not feature Monday night games during the preseason, as the official Monday Night Football package on ESPN and ABC remains reserved for regular season competition beginning in September.
Instead, the league maintains a scheduled practice and recovery window early in the week before launching into Week 2 of the preseason.
Running from Thursday, August 20, through Sunday, August 23, Week 2 continues the middle stretch of the exhibition slate, with one more preseason week still to come before rosters are finalized.
Complete Week 2 Preseason Schedule With No NFL Games on Monday
The league concentrates its exhibition matchups from Thursday through Sunday, giving clubs additional practice time while still building toward Week 3.
Rather than competing under game lights, all 32 NFL franchises utilize the early portion of Week 2 for internal training camp evaluation. Front offices and coaching staffs review film from Week 1, hold player medical assessments, and continue evaluating roster battles.
With the league’s single mandatory cutdown deadline not arriving until Sunday, August 30, at 6:00 p.m. ET, after Week 3 of the preseason wraps up, this week’s practice reps remain a key evaluation tool for coaches determining eventual 53-man roster spots and practice squad alignments.
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Here’s a look ahead at this week’s preseason slate:
Thursday, August 20
- Las Vegas Raiders at Houston Texans, 8:00 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- San Francisco 49ers at Los Angeles Chargers, 10:00 p.m. ET (NFL Network)
Friday, August 21
- New York Jets at Pittsburgh Steelers, 7:00 p.m. ET (NFL Network)
- Carolina Panthers at Jacksonville Jaguars, 7:30 p.m. ET (Local TV)
- Green Bay Packers at Denver Broncos, 9:00 p.m. ET (NFL Network)
Saturday, August 22
- Washington Commanders at Detroit Lions, 12:00 p.m. ET (Local TV)
- Buffalo Bills at Cleveland Browns, 1:00 p.m. ET (NFL Network)
- Atlanta Falcons at Indianapolis Colts, 1:00 p.m. ET (Local TV)
- Baltimore Ravens at Minnesota Vikings, 1:00 p.m. ET (Local TV)
- New Orleans Saints at Los Angeles Rams, 4:00 p.m. ET (Local TV)
- New York Giants at Miami Dolphins, 4:00 p.m. ET (NFL Network)
- Chicago Bears at Cincinnati Bengals, 7:00 p.m. ET (Local TV)
- Philadelphia Eagles at New England Patriots, 7:00 p.m. ET (NFL Network)
- Kansas City Chiefs at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 7:30 p.m. ET (Local TV)
- Dallas Cowboys at Arizona Cardinals, 10:00 p.m. ET (NFL Network)
Sunday, August 23
- Seattle Seahawks at Tennessee Titans, 8:00 p.m. ET (FOX)
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Looking Ahead: Preseason Week 3 and Roster Cutdowns
Preseason Week 2 is not the finale; that distinction belongs to Week 3, running Thursday, August 27, through Saturday, August 29, which will serve as the league’s final exhibition tune-up.
Following Week 3’s conclusion, teams face a hard deadline of Sunday, August 30, at 6:00 p.m. ET to trim their rosters from 90 players down to 53.
Once waivers clear on Monday, Aug. 31, organizations will build out their practice squads: a 16-player base, expandable to 17 for teams carrying an International Player Pathway Program player, before transitioning to full preparation for the regular season kickoff on Wednesday, September 9.
