San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan cancelled two OTAs and mandatory minicamp for a number of reasons.
The San Francisco 49ers’ offseason program is finished. Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Wednesday told reporters the team won’t hold another practice prior to training camp in part because of the truncated offseason schedule, the large turnout at the voluntary workouts, and because of the pair of major injuries the team sustained Monday.
This year’s OTAs started a week later than usual, which was part of the impetus for cutting the program short. Shanahan explained to reporters in a video chat that while he’d always planned to cut back on the mandatory minicamp in order to give the players some time away from the facility.
“We kinda decided awhile ago we weren’t gonna do minicamp,” Shanahan said in a videoconference. “I rarely do do minicamp when we get nine OTAs in. We usually do one practice, then we have like a team-building thing throughout that. I kinda decided earlier in this if we could get our OTAs in I wasn’t gonna keep them for minicamp because it’s a week longer than usual. I like the guys to get away for 40 days, and we started a week later this year than usual – the whole league did – so they only would’ve gotten away for 32 days, and I think that does add up.”
Another factor in the team’s decision to eliminate their final two OTAs and their three-day mandatory minicamp was the number of players that showed up for OTAs. Turnout for the voluntary sessions was in question because of COVID-19 protocols, and limited turnout to the voluntary practices makes the mandatory practices more of a necessity.
Shanahan said all but one member of the 49ers’ roster showed up, rendering the need for additional practices moot.
“We had such a big turnout, too. I know there were some question around a lot of people around the league,” Shanahan said. “If we didn’t have a big turnout I obviously would’ve kept those guys because I know we had to get some work in. I mean, we really had 89 people show up to OTAs, which was unbelievable. … Having 89 guys here and getting seven OTA practices in, I felt great about it.”
While the 49ers did wind up eliminating five on-field practices, the change wasn’t a huge stretch from Shanahan’s original plan. His initial goal was to get eight practices in before cancelling the rest of the offseason program. The team wound up cutting it off after seven sessions because of two season-ending injuries suffered by OL Justin Skule and DB Tarvarius Moore on Monday.
“My plan was to get eight, then I was gonna surprise them on Thursday and take everyone bowling,” Shanahan said. “But after our seventh practice with those two injuries and just the aura it gave to it, I wasn’t gonna come back and do one more just to do one more.”
Now the 49ers, save for a few rookies that’ll stay at the facility, will head home until late July when training camp is set to start, although dates haven’t been officially determined.
