CANTON, Ohio -- When Mike LaFleur began his coaching career, he felt the preseason would not matter much.
He realized he needed to shift that mindset instantly.
"When I first got into it about probably not being as serious as I needed to be with the players, and I learned really quickly," LaFleur said. "The guys that are playing, it's an amped up environment. It's real."
The result of the Pro Football Hall of Fame game on Thursday between the Cardinals and Panthers won't shape the 2026 campaign. There won't be many key players in uniform. The Cardinals held a heavier practice on Wednesday morning for those guys prior to climbing on a plane.
Running back Jeremiyah Love is one of the players who will not play Thursday, and worked Wednesday. LaFleur said about 35 guys on the roster will not play.
It would easy to dismiss the game and keep counting down the days until the Cardinals travel to Los Angeles for a Week 1 game against the Chargers.
But Thursday's game is important for a ton of reasons. The game is intended to honor the Hall of Fame class, including Larry Fitzgerald. It's a primetime battle on NBC. Plus, rookie Carson Beck will be getting a much-anticipated start.
"I learned really early in this league, yeah, it's preseason and it doesn't matter in terms of the win-loss, but these guys are still out there, one, fighting for jobs," LaFleur said. "Two, trying to put their best product out there. Three, they're putting their bodies on the line. It's real football, and the guys that are playing, if they don't get hurt, that's how you get hurt and how you don't put a good product on the field."
Another important reason is because of LaFleur. Against the Panthers, he will be patrolling the sidelines as the head coach for the first time.
When he was looking to fill out his staff, LaFleur said he wanted Nathaniel Hackett "and nobody else" to be his offensive coordinator. A part of that reason was because of his past experience as a head coach.
"No. He's just going to go right in there and we'll see what happens," Hackett said when asked if he gave any advice to LaFleur on managing his first preseason game.
"For all of us right now, it's a whole new staff," Hackett added. "I think that's a great thing for us to have this game to have a quick dry run through on how game day operations go just from time management and all that stuff. It'll be great for all of us. There will be some ups and downs, and you work through those, and grow every day."
It's a sentiment LaFleur shared as he previewed Thursday's game earlier in the week. There will be mistakes, and for the first time as well, the players won't have the coaches right behind them barking out instructions.
For LaFleur and the team, the game is a building block towards the regular season. It just happens to have some extra meaning with a ton more eyeballs tuning in.
"The preseason, those games matter in the moment, but what really matters in the preseason is the practice that we're preparing for and that's where I want these guys and that's where I know these guys are at," LaFleur said. "We'll be tight with our plan. What I want to go see is these guys and their play style come to life, and us go operate before the before the snap. That's it. Everything else is just those guys going out and letting it lose."
