49ers announce offseason workout schedule

The San Francisco 49ers will be bringing in their incoming 2021 rookie class this weekend. The NFL announced its offseason workout program schedule for every team, and the Niners will begin their portion on Friday.

Although we are still in Phase One of the offseason training guidelines, the league will move to Phase Two later in the week. Currently, teams are only allowed to have strength and conditioning sessions, virtual meetings, and physical rehabilitation only.

Here is San Francisco’s schedule for the coming weeks:

Rookie Minicamp: May 14-16

Quarterback Trey Lance and the remaining rookies will be allowed to participate in team activities starting Friday in Santa Clara.

OTA Offseason Workouts: May 24-25, May 27, June 1-2, June 4, June 7-8, June 10

Mandatory Minicamp: June 15-17

Because of the pandemic, the NFL made several changes to the offseason schedule. Here is what is and isn’t allowed during Phases 2 and 3.

Phase Two (May 17-21) has been shortened from three weeks to one week. On-field workouts may include individual player instruction and drills, “perfect play” drills, drills and plays conducted with offensive players lining up across from offensive players and defensive players lining up across from defensive players, with each group permitted to align eleven or fewer players across from eleven or fewer players. Players on one side of the ball may execute a play, but players on the opposite side of the ball may not initiate contact with, or attempt to impede the progress of, players who are running the play. All such drills must be conducted at an acceptable walkthrough pace (i.e. Pro Bowl practice).

Phase Three (May 24-June 18) remains its customary four weeks in length. Beginning in Phase Three, clubs may conduct in-person meetings and classroom instruction subject to COVID-19 testing cadence, tracking, facility access and other protocols. During Phase Three, teams may conduct a total of 10 days of organized team practice activity, or “OTAs”. No live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are permitted.

The good news is that this is an improvement compared to the 2020 offseason. Teams were only allowed to hold virtual meetings and training sessions during the COVID-19 outbreak last year.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state is hoping for a full reopening as of June 15. This would allow the 49ers to practice without dealing with state guidelines, but the team will still have to follow the NFL’s protocols.

As of now, the state has fully vaccinated roughly 50 percent of the population, and cases are nearly as low as they have been since the pandemic started.

The Niners will release their official training camp dates in the coming weeks.