The NFL will release the 2016 schedule sometime in mid-April, at which point the San Francisco 49ers will learn when they will be doing the bulk of their traveling. The team faces another lengthy travel schedule, with approximately 12,664 one-way miles, and 25,328 roundtrip miles. The 49ers will likely end up among the NFL's leading travelers, which is always the case for the NFC West.
Given all the miles, we are once again back at a discussion about a potential layover in Youngstown, Ohio. 49ers head coach Chip Kelly was asked about the idea of such a stay during a road trip, and he liked the idea. He's into sports science, and spoke about circadian rhythms, and getting acclimated to time zones.
The 49ers road schedule includes Arizona, Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, Carolina, Buffalo, Miami, and Chicago. Last year, the schedule included back-to-back road games against Chicago and Cleveland in early December. The team elected to not stay over in Youngstown, in part because of concerns about potential weather issues.
This year, the best option for a Youngstown week would probably be something like Chicago and then one of the east coast teams. I can't imagine the 49ers would be scheduled in two east coast cities in back-to-back weeks, but if they want to do Youngstown, they might request the Bears and then one of the eastern cities.
Of course, Kelly also made another good point about travel issues:
Kelly said the NFL's top-performing road teams tend to have top-shelf rosters.
"That's the common element," he said, "they're usually really talented. ... I think if you get a little bit better players, the time travel isn't the most important thing."
So, yea, put together a good team, and all the travel stuff becomes less of an issue.