Starting Monday, the San Francisco 49ers will hold two days of practice before traveling to Southern California for joint scrimmages against the New Orleans Saints at the University of California, Irvine. After the sessions, both teams will head to the Bay Area for next weekend's preseason matchup at Levi's Stadium.
The 49ers are making the trip for the practices because their home facilities aren't suited to accommodate two NFL teams, while UC Irvine, where the Saints have been holding their training camp, can.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan values joint practices over preseason games because they allow for better control over what happens on the field and offer a more focused evaluation of players. However, he's concerned that the 49ers might be at a disadvantage in terms of healthy players when these practices begin.
Several players missed Thursday's practice due to injuries. Key contributors like Christian McCaffrey, Fred Warner, and Nick Bosa didn't even travel with the team for their preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans.
"It's awesome to get a chance to scrimmage versus people," Shanahan told reporters after Saturday's game. "We're a little banged up, so we got to figure out how we can pull that off and stuff like that. It seems like losing [CB] Ambry [Thomas] will be tough, hoping a number of other things don't pop up tomorrow."
Thomas suffered a broken right forearm against the Titans and is expected to undergo a lengthy recovery. The 24-year-old defender was already considered to be on the roster bubble, especially with the free-agent addition of Isaac Yiadom and the drafting of Renardo Green.
Injuries only complicate matters.
"But last week, we had like 23 guys out of practice the last time that we practiced, so hopefully, [we] can get more of those guys back so we can have a decent scrimmage," Shanahan continued.
As the 49ers gear up for these crucial joint practices, the team's health will be a key factor in effectively evaluating talent, making the return of injured players even more critical. One such player is Talanoa Hufanga, who is working to come back from the ACL injury he sustained in November 2023. The team plans to assess the safety's recovery progress while in Southern California.
Hufanga hopes to be ready for Week 1 against the New York Jets.
