A lot of effort is going into trying to make sure NFL players are safe as teams get set to begin training camps. Significant changes have swept across NFL facilities, with every team needing to make massive changes to protocols, and even the buildings themselves, to ensure social distancing is possible.
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan joined the Chris Simms Unbuttoned podcast to discuss some of the changes taking place at the team's Santa Clara-based facility.
Shanahan, along with a limited staff, has been in the facility for a few days now. Everyone is wearing bracelets to track when they come within six feet of another person. Face masks can only be removed when you are alone in a room.
Walls are coming down to make some of those rooms bigger and accommodate social distancing. Shanahan used the quarterback room as an example.
"We have four quarterbacks in there for training camp," Shanahan told Simms. "With six feet apart, we could only fit one quarterback in there, and a coach because it's not the biggest room. And we have that issue in a lot of rooms."
Luckily, the 49ers have neighboring Levi's Stadium at their disposal. The extra facilities will provide the team with the extra space needed for proper instruction.
Shanahan is already undergoing daily testing for COVID-19, and even he wasn't allowed into the building until his first two tests came back negative.
Players will undergo a similar process. Members of the first batch arrived on Thursday for their first COVID-19 tests. Each player will then self-quarantine for two days and return for a second test on Sunday. Should both tests return negative, that player will be allowed into the facility.
The second batch of players will begin the same process on Tuesday.
"What they have put into this, to allow us to practice, it's unbelievable," Shanahan shared. "... Our stuff is top-notch."
Added Shanahan: "Since we've been back in here, and I've seen our protocols, and how they have this building, it makes me truly believe we can pull this off ... It will be different. It's totally going to be different. But I've been at home long enough, and I think we've all watched sports, not having it long enough, that I'm excited to try to pull it off. And I'm so much more optimistic after getting in here and seeing how these buildings are."
