The San Francisco 49ers were the most injured team last season. That's a title they would like to avoid in 2021. However, it's been a rough last few weeks.
The Niners lost running back Jeff Wilson Jr. to a torn meniscus in late May. He is not expected to return until midseason, possibly as late as November. Then on Monday, San Francisco lost offensive lineman Justin Skule to a torn ACL and safety Tarvarius Moore to a torn Achilles.
The 49ers canceled Tuesday's practice out of an abundance of caution. The team had its final practice of organized team activities (OTAs) slated for Thursday and then a mandatory three-day minicamp next week. That won't happen now.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan announced on Wednesday that those practices have been canceled as well. In fact, he says that the team had already planned to cancel next week's minicamp thanks to the good turnout they've had for OTAs.
"We're totally done," Shanahan told reporters. "We really finished up our exit meetings today, really, with everybody. We're just going to keep the rookies around here for a little bit, some more than others. I kind of decided a while ago we weren't going to do minicamp. I rarely do do minicamp when we get nine OTAs. We usually do one practice, and we have like a team-building thing throughout that.
"I kind of decided earlier in this, if we can get our OTAs, then I wasn't going to keep them for minicamp because it's a week longer than usual. I like the guys to get away for 40 days, and we started a week later this year than usual. The whole league did. So, they only would have gotten away for like 32 days, and I think that does add up.
"We had such a big turnout too. I know there was some questions around a lot of people around the league, so if we didn't have a big turnout, I obviously would have kept those guys because I know we had to get some work in. But we really had 89 people show up to OTAs, which was unbelievable, and the guy who didn't was here since February rehabbing the whole time with Dee (Ford). He just got away because he's been here since February, and he had to get away for just his peace of mind."
Shanahan added that he had planned to hold eight practices and surprise his players on Thursday by taking them bowling. Monday's practice and injuries changed those plans.
The team will return to the practice field on July 31, four days after players report to training camp.