49ers will open 2019 preseason against Cowboys; Exhibition schedule announced

You can start planning your August. The NFL announced its entire 2019 preseason schedule on Tuesday, including all four exhibition games for the San Francisco 49ers.

The NFL preseason will kick off on August 1 with a matchup between the Denver Broncos and the Atlanta Falcons in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game from Canton, Ohio. The rest of the league will begin its exhibition play after that as the league kicks off its 100th season.

Below are the 2019 preseason opponents for the 49ers. Complete dates and times will be announced once they are finalized.

The 49ers will kick off their exhibition schedule against the Dallas Cowboys and then play a primetime game against the Denver Broncos on August 19.

San Francisco's third exhibition game, typically used as the "dress rehearsal" for NFL teams, will involve a trip to Kansas City where quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo suffered his season-ending ACL injury last season. Head coach Kyle Shanahan recently said he believes playing in preseason will benefit his rehabbing quarterback and running back Jerick McKinnon, who weeks earlier suffered the same injury.

"If their bodies can, I think that's a good thing for them," Shanahan said. "They want to test it out. I feel like that's more of a mental thing. If your body can take it and the doctors say it, and they feel confident with it, I think it's good to go out in a real-game situation and get that confidence because we're not going to let someone tackle [Garoppolo] in practice.

"A lot of times, guys want to go out and get tackled just so they can get that mental breakthrough so when they go into Week 1, they're not thinking about it."

Below are some notes on each matchup, which were provided by the 49ers Communications staff.

Cowboys

• It marks the 17th preseason matchup overall between the two clubs, with the 49ers winning the most recent meeting, 24-21, at Levi's Stadium in 2018.
• The 49ers are hosting the Dallas Cowboys in the preseason for only the third time since 1987 and the second-consecutive season.
• Dallas owns the overall preseason series record, 9-7.

Broncos

• The 49ers face the Broncos in the preseason for the seventh time in the last eight preseasons and 40th meeting overall.
• The Broncos lead the preseason series, 22-17.
• The 49ers defeated the Broncos, 31-24, in the team's last preseason meeting in Denver in 2016.

• This marks the 10th preseason matchup between the 49ers and Chiefs.
• The 49ers lead the overall preseason series record, 7-2.
• San Francisco has won each of the last two preseason matchups between the two clubs, including a 27-17 victory at Kansas City in 2017.

Chargers

• It marks the 33rd consecutive year in which the two teams have met in the preseason.
• The two teams will close out the preseason against each other for the 17th time in the past 18 years.
• San Francisco leads the all-time preseason series, 26-21, and have won eight of the last nine matchups between the two teams.