The San Francisco 49ers are preparing for their dress rehearsal on Saturday. The starters figure to play about a half against the Indianapolis Colts, depending on what happens in the game.
"Usually, in the third preseason game, you try to keep your ones out there for a whole half," head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters on Tuesday. "That's usually our standard philosophy. We'll see how our guys are. We'll see how the game goes. It could be less than a half. It could be into the third quarter. We'll see."
As of Thursday afternoon, that is still the plan.
One player who is excited to finally get on the football field is new running back Alfred Morris. He did not play this past weekend against the Houston Texans after joining his new 49ers teammates four days before kickoff.
"He wanted to go, and we could have thrown him in, but there's only so many handoffs you can give people," Shanahan said on Tuesday. "He had two practices this year, and if it would have played out differently, we would have put him in. But, we wanted to take a look at the other guys."
Morris isn't sure when he will enter Saturday's game against the Colts, but knows he will finally have an opportunity to show his coaches what he can do to opposing defenses and prove he deserves to be on the 53-man roster. Morris joined 95.7 The Game on Thursday afternoon and was asked if he might get some work with the first-team offense.
"That's up to the coaches, honestly," Morris responded. "If I start, great. If I don't, it doesn't matter to me. I will have an opportunity. I will play in this game, to my knowledge. Like I said, I'm thankful for this opportunity that I've been given so I can give myself a chance to make this team.
"That's up to the coaches. Talk to one of them. They can give you a better idea. But as for me, I know I'll play, but I'm not sure how the snaps and reps will play out."
Click here to listen to the entire interview with Morris, which begins at about the 3:30 mark.
Another 49ers player who is eager to get back on the football field is cornerback Richard Sherman. He has not played in a game since last November. That's when he sustained the Achilles injury that ended his season and, eventually, his time with the Seattle Seahawks.
A hamstring injury during training camp sidelined Sherman for the 49ers' first two exhibition games, but the veteran cornerback has already vowed to be on the field on Saturday.
"I'm going to play," Sherman told reporters on Wednesday.
Sherman says he feels good, especially after receiving some extra rest due to his latest setback. He has been a full participant during practices this week.
"I'm feeling even better now and looking forward to going out there this week," Sherman added.
Shanahan plans to have Sherman get the same amount of work as the rest of the first-team defense. Because he has missed so much time, there is even a remote possibility that the cornerback might get a little extra work next week.
"We're playing him with the starters, and we'd like the starters to play the first half," Shanahan said on Thursday. "Like I said earlier in the week, that could be less. It could be a little bit more. But, I'd like to keep Richard on the same plan.
"He hasn't been out as much as everyone, so we'll see how it goes. We'll monitor his reps. You don't know if it's a ton of reps. You never know how long two quarters can go. Hopefully, he gets enough so that he feels comfortable.
"I'm leaning a lot on Sherm with this. He's finally got to the point where we feel he can go and not have setbacks. Now it's what he needs to do to get himself ready for Minnesota. I know a lot of that has to do with getting him some playing time this week.
"Based off how this goes and how practice goes next week, I'll talk to him and see how much he thinks he needs versus [the Chargers]."
