The San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints canceled their joint practices for this week because the 49ers are dealing with several injuries.
The teams announced on Sunday that they decided together to cancel the practices scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Irvine, where the Saints are training this summer. Instead, they will play their second preseason game on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan had been talking with New Orleans coach Dennis Allen over the weekend and decided on Sunday that the 49ers didn’t have enough healthy players to hold a successful joint practice.
“He reached out to me yesterday, making me aware that they have some things going on there in terms of having enough able bodies to have some good practices,” Allen told reporters in Irvine.
These were the only joint practices scheduled for both teams during this training camp, and the coaches were looking forward to practicing against another team in a structured setting.
Shanahan said on Saturday after an exhibition game at Tennessee that the 49ers had about 23 players unable to practice last week due to various injuries. San Francisco also lost cornerback Ambry Thomas in the game to a broken forearm.
He hoped to have enough players return this week to practice, but decided on Sunday that it wouldn’t work out. Both teams will now practice on their own before their game this weekend.
“I enjoy the joint practices,” Allen said. “I think it’s good to go up against somebody else. But other than that, we’re still going to get some good work here so I’m not that concerned about it.”
San Francisco had held joint practices in all but one non-pandemic season since Shanahan became coach in 2017, skipping only 2020 when there were none due to COVID and in 2021.
But the 49ers have had several players with minor injuries, including running backs Christian McCaffrey, Elijah Mitchell, and Isaac Guerendo; receivers Ricky Pearsall, Danny Gray, and Jacob Cowing; linebackers Fred Warner and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles; cornerbacks Isaac Yiadom and Darrell Luter Jr.; and offensive linemen Jaylon Moore, Spencer Burford, and Jon Feliciano.
