The NFL doesn’t appear to be slowing down anymore for the COVID-19 pandemic. After cancelling in-person offseason activities and two preseason games, the league hasn’t made any declarations about a delay in the start of training camps, which are set to open July 28. Teams are permitted to send rookies and quarterbacks in early — and NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero on Thursday reported the Chiefs will have players in their building Monday, July 20. Ian Rapoport reported the Texans will follow suit. The full team is set to report July 25. The Chiefs and Texans are the first teams to move forward with their scheduled camp dates while the NFL and NFL Player’s Association continue to negotiate on safety protocols for camp in a pandemic.
While Kansas City’s reporting dates and timing typically wouldn’t have any impact on the 49ers, this offseason is different. Teams are on a relatively uniform schedule while the league attempts to get every club on the same calendar in preparation for the first week of the season. The Chiefs host the Texans on Thursday Sept. 10, the 49ers host the Cardinals on the following Sunday, Sept. 13. The issue facing San Francisco is that their facility hasn’t opened yet.
The NFL began soft re-openings of team facilities with a limited number of front office personnel allowed in the building, followed by coaching staffs with some restrictions in place. Local protocols supersede any mandates the league puts in place though, and Santa Clara County where 49ers headquarters are located is still under a pretty strict lockdown after a significant jump in COVID-19 numbers. Even while the state was seeing its numbers decline, the facility stayed shuttered.
California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday, July 13 announced the statewide closure of indoor operations for a number of businesses, including offices for non-critical sectors. That’s the category where the 49ers’ team facility falls. The facility is open for players rehabbing injuries. It would not be open for training camp.
Now the club is inside of two weeks until training camp is set to open and they’re not even allowed into their building. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where the building goes from closed to open and housing 90 players plus coaches, front office members, training staff, strength staff and others. Even in a scenario where safety protocols are in place, that’s a large number of people in one building. One slip up in safety protocols or one bad test could lead to a disaster that sidelines a portion of the team for two-plus weeks.
While the CBA allows teams to set a reporting date for players, Pelissero reported that the clubs must be in compliance with agreed upon safety protocols or the Players Union can file a grievance. Owners will have a conference call Friday to iron out the details of those safety protocols in hopes of having them in place by the time the Chiefs and Texans report.
Getting left behind in the early portions of the NFL’s re-opening wasn’t a huge deal for the 49ers. They maintained enough roster continuity that the online offseason programs combined with player-organized workouts sufficed in lieu of typical OTAs. Not having front-office personnel or coaches in the building wasn’t adversely impacting the 49ers very much. Not starting camp on time would be a different story.
It initially sounded like the league was going to go at a pace that would allow each team to stay on the same schedule when it came to camp, and their moves forward indicate there must be some plan for the 49ers and other teams who’re locked out of their building due to local guidelines. The NFL has already mandated that each team hold camp on its own facility to limit the number of places that need to be completely safe for players.
Getting over this hurdle and into the facility will only be step one for the 49ers. That’s going to be a tall task with California scaling back its re-opening just as the NFL is attempting to ramp up its 2020 season. If they do get the go-ahead, it’ll just be the beginning of what’s sure to be a, hopefully, once-in-a-lifetime type of training camp. If they aren’t allowed in the building, it could wind up having a ripple effect that forces the NFL to once again rethink its entire preseason schedule.
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