NFL teams directed to hold training camps at their home facilities

NFL teams have been told that they will have to hold training camps at their team facilities this summer due to the coronavirus pandemic. Last month, there was some discussion that the San Francisco 49ers would hold their training camp in Arizona, or possibly away from Levi’s Stadium. Now we know that won’t be the case. We still don’t know when training camp will be, but whenever it’s held, the 49ers will continue to hold practice at Levi’s Stadium. Several teams travel outside of the state for training camp. The Cowboys, for example, are known to hold their annual training camp in Oxnard, California.

The only question about the Niners training camp will be whether it’ll include fans or not. NFL.com says, “it wasn’t likely many fans were going to be able to attend anyway.” That’s a bummer. Practices were fun as rookies would come out early and have to do something out of their comfort zone, and the crowd would eat it up.

Adam Schefter is also reporting that teams will not be allowed to hold joint practices this summer. Last year, San Francisco traveled to Denver for joint practices against the Broncos. In 2018, the team practiced with the Houston Texans, and those practices gave us this fight between Jimmie Ward and DeAndre Hopkins. Joint practices would give a player like Trent Williams a different look as well as he tries to shake the rust off admittedly. He’s fortunate enough to get reps against three of the better pass rushers in the NFL. Add in a game worth of reps against Von Miller and Bradley Chubb would have only helped. Players get tired of playing against the same guys for two weeks in a row, so joint practices give them something to look forward to, and when it is time to face another team, the energy is game-like. It’s not a huge deal, but Kyle Shanahan will have to come up with another way to keep his guys motivated during the dog days of summer.