If all goes well, San Francisco 49ers players will finally get to meet face-to-face with team coaches for training camp next month.
If all goes well.
There is a good level is skepticism surrounding the possibility of a 2020 NFL season kicking off. The COVID-19 pandemic remains and nearly a third of NFL teams have reported at least one case among their players and staff, temporarily shutting down operations for some. That includes one 49ers player testing positive for the virus last week.
What happens when players are officially allowed back into team facilities? That remains to be seen.
"We're preparing to play the 2020 season as scheduled. That's the only thing we can do right now," York said Monday during the 49ers' State of the Franchise, via Cam Inman of the Mercury News. "We have to make sure our primary focus — the players, coaches, fans and all the people that work around the game — are healthy.
"The great folks in the county have been awesome to work with. You're bringing a ton of people together to figure out what are the best decisions we can make, based off the medical officers and public health officials, so we can make sure we move forward in the right manner."
Team president Al Guido is confident the 2020 season will take place, in some shape or form.
"Our political leaders in California have done an unbelievable job in maintaining safety," Guido said. "We're working literally every single day in communicating with them in terms of our return to sports and our return to games. I'm confident that we'll have a NFL season."
Peter Schrager, one of the hosts of this week's event, asked York about the 49ers' upcoming schedule, and which games he has circled on his calendar.
"The Seahawks, the way the regular-season ended last year," York responded. "Obviously there's a huge awesome rivalry between us and those guys up north. Is there a better division from top to bottom in the NFL?
"You've got a young quarterback (Kyler Murray, Arizona) who reminds you a lot of Russ (Wilson, Seattle) and things he can do to make plays from anywhere on the field. And you have the Rams who, by the way, were in the Super Bowl a few years ago. This is not an easy division so it has to start with the NFC West and it's going to be a very difficult place to start but there's going to be a lot of awesome football this year."
The general public can view the first of four episodes of the State of the Franchise tonight on 49ers.com at 5 PM PT.