All eyes on Solomon Thomas, Reuben Foster as 49ers report to training camp

The San Francisco 49ers report to training camp on Thursday and fans patiently await word on the team's two first-round draft picks.

The 49ers used the third overall pick to select defensive lineman Solomon Thomas. The Stanford product has missed the team's offseason program due to a league rule that prevented him from joining his new teammates until his school had completed finals. The last time Thomas was on the practice field was for a rookie minicamp in May.

Thomas is now able to fully participate with his 49ers teammates, assuming that he is signed before Friday's practice. He remains the 49ers' only unsigned player from the team's 2017 draft class. In fact, he is just one of the few NFL first-round picks who have not signed with their teams. If he remains unsigned, the wait for Thomas joining the 49ers on the practice field will continue.


While Thomas was unable to join his new teammates, he has been working hard this offseason by training with Hall of Fame defensive lineman Warren Sapp. During the spring, he worked out with pass rusher DeMarcus Ware, who played for the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos. Thomas even changed his jersey number from 96 to 94 in honor of Ware. He has also worked out with Atlanta Falcons linebacker Vic Beasley, who led the NFL last season with 15.5 sacks, and attended Denver Broncos edge rusher Von Miller's pass rush camp held at Stanford in June.

The other rookie to keep an eye on is linebacker Reuben Foster, who was selected by the 49ers with the 31st overall pick. Foster has spent the offseason recovering from a surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder. That surgery took place following Alabama's 2016 season and concern over the injury contributed to Foster's fall in the draft.

"Despite surgery on his right rotator cuff, Foster's right shoulder was worrisome enough that some teams did not consider drafting him," Adam Schefter of ESPN wrote in May. "'The surgery didn't take,' said one well-placed source with knowledge of the injury."

While players report to training camp on Thursday, the team won't hold its first practice until Friday at 10 a.m. Thursday is reserved for player physicals performed by the 49ers' medical staff, who are responsible for determining if anyone needs to be placed on the NFI or PUP list. That is when we will likely find out if Foster has been officially cleared to fully practice with his teammates.

Foster was limited during the 49ers' offseason program and only took part in individual drills while being held out of any drills that might require contact with another player. Since his selection in April, Foster and the 49ers have downplayed the injury and insisted that their doctors felt good about his recovery and that the rookie would be ready for training camp.

"Our doctors do a great job," 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said in May. "They looked into everything with Reuben and met with him. Our doctors felt good about his shoulder. They thought it was recovering well. They didn't have the same report a lot of other teams did. You never know who is going to end up being right."

"OTAs, I'll be limited and all," Foster told KNBR in April. "Training camp, I'll be full-go."