Brandon Aiyuk’s contract remains the biggest unchecked box on the 49ers’ offseason to-do list. However, they added a new one Thursday when NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero reported 49ers head of player health and performance Ben Peterson is taking a job with the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks as their new VP of player health and performance.
Peterson was part of an overhaul of the 49ers’ health and performance staffs after the 2019 season. They put their training staff and player performance staffs under one umbrella following some terrible injury luck during head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch’s first few seasons.
Prior to joining the 49ers, Peterson was with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers. That makes the NBA his third major US sports league.
Health is a key component to making a deep playoff run. It’s even more important for the team to stay on top of player health and performance with so many veterans on the club. Finding a replacement for Peterson has to be one of the 49ers’ top priorities with a little over a month left until training camp starts. Their hire to replace Peterson could play a major role in whether they’re able to return to the Super Bowl, making this one of the key items for them to figure out before camp.
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