49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan hasn’t been shy about expressing his desire for fewer preseason games. The NFL typically schedules four. Shanahan said last year before the preseason opener that he’d prefer zero to four, but that two would be ideal. He sort of got his wish in 2020 when the NFL cancelled all four preseason games.
A skewed offseason schedule forced the league to first trim the exhibition slate to two games, but further health and safety concerns amid the Covid-19 pandemic pushed the NFL and NFL Players Association to agree on the cancelation of the final two preseason contests.
Shanahan joined the ‘Chris Simms Unbuttoned’ podcast and explained the benefits of navigating a preseason without live exhibition games.
“This is the first time we’ve gone without preseason, and that does help a lot,” Shanahan said. “Usually you’ve got to put in those travel days for that. And I don’t care as much about the game, but you miss practice the day before, practice the day of and practice the day after. So knowing that we don’t have those, even if we have less days, I think we might be able to make it up because we don’t have to go to travel to games. So we might be able to get the same amount of work in, but that’s all we’re kinda waiting to see.”
Teams league-wide began reporting to camp on July 21, and the first in-person offseason programs are set to begin in early August. Players preferred a longer ramp up period to make up for lost offseason workouts that typically take place in June. Dropping preseason games effectively opens three additional days of practice, which are valuable for acclimating rookies and other new players, as well as installing any changes the coaching staff made over the offseason.
San Francisco has plenty of roster carryover from last season, and their coaching staff remained largely intact. Getting everybody on the same page is more important for the 49ers than getting the game experience that comes with the preseason contests.
While Shanahan prefers zero to four, he told Simms that preseason games have their benefits, and detailed what the club and players will lose without them.
“I’m all for the preseason because there’s a couple guys we’ve never seen in a game who are pretty good in practice. Then you throw them out there in a preseason game and they freak out, and you’re like, ‘alright they’re not ready. We gotta put him on the practice squad.’ And that’s good to know,” he said. “It’s also good when we can’t decide, these guys are neck and neck — it’s nice to just let it play out and to see what happens. But this year’s different. Also, how bad does it suck for guys not to get film that won’t make that team? That film has a chance to make it to other teams, and they won’t get that. So, there’s very good reasons to have preseason.”
Undrafted free agents, late-round picks and practice squad players from last season looking to climb their way to a roster spot could all wind up being adversely impacted by the absence of preseason games.
Ultimately the 49ers should be fine, and could benefit as a club from skipping their tune up games. It reduces the risk of injury, and allows them to get the rookies they’ll be relying on up to speed a little quicker than they would have. Some teams and coaches may miss the preseason, but it doesn’t sound like Shanahan will be among them.