The San Francisco 49ers will once again engage in joint practices with a preseason opponent, a tradition they've upheld for several years. According to Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com, this year's partner will be the New Orleans Saints, one of the team's preseason opponents.
The Saints will learn quickly how good they are in 2024. Their joint practices in training camp are against one of the top teams in the league…
Here's who the Saints will be playing in their first 2 preseason games of 2024 https://t.co/dhVBY26Z9w
— Jeff Duncan (@JeffDuncan_) May 14, 2024
While the game between the two teams will take place at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, expected to be nationally televised in prime time, Duncan reports that the Saints will host the 49ers at their training camp location at the University of California-Irvine in Southern California.
"The joint practices against the 49ers will likely take place a couple of days before the preseason game," Duncan wrote. "The official dates and times of the workouts will be announced later this summer.
"In Irvine, the Saints will practice on Crawford Field at the UC Irvine Athletics Complex, which hosted the Rams from 2016 to 2019 and 2021 to 2023. The Saints needed a new location because of a construction project on a new cafeteria at the team's Metairie training complex."
It's curious that the 49ers are not hosting the Saints at their Santa Clara facility, given that the exhibition game will be played at Levi's Stadium, located next door. It's likely their practice fields can only accommodate one NFL team.
The complete NFL schedule will be released tomorrow night. However, dates and times for preseason games are typically announced in the weeks that follow. For now, we know that the 49ers and Saints will face each other, with Duncan indicating that the matchup will occur in the second week of the preseason.
