Which is dumb, because they're absolutely not planning to cut him. And if he's so terrible that they would end up cutting him before his rookie contract ends (a la Josh Rosen), then the amount that another team would sign him for would be very minimal and not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

It's more an organizational philosophy and about setting precedents than it is about the intelligence of the actual decision. Chargers do the same thing and it drives me nuts. That's why Bosa was in late to camp his rookie season. It's also why Darnold missed the start of his training camp (something identified by a lot of Jets' beat writers as the start of him failing to meet expectations)