Last year, the San Francisco 49ers were forced to cancel a planned joint practice with the New Orleans Saints in Southern California due to a rash of training camp injuries. This summer, injuries have again been a concern, but head coach Kyle Shanahan has remained hopeful that they won't derail the team's second scheduled joint practice session.
The 49ers successfully completed one joint practice this week against the Denver Broncos ahead of their preseason opener. However, that game added more names to the injury report.
Rookie safety Marques Sigle, running back Ameer Abdullah, and defensive end Robert Beal Jr. all exited with injuries. Meanwhile, two other rookies—cornerback Upton Stout and defensive lineman Mykel Williams—were sidelined and did not play due to pre-existing injuries.
And that's only part of the list. The question now is whether Shanahan believes the team will be healthy enough to hold its upcoming joint practice with the Las Vegas Raiders in Henderson, Nevada.
When asked if they will plan to move forward with the joint practice, Shanahan said, "Yeah, we are, but it's definitely getting hard. We had 19 guys that didn't dress today because of injuries, and that's not counting the PUP (physically unable to perform list) guys and things like that. There's about probably seven healthy guys that I sat."
However, the head coach remains optimistic that reinforcements are on the way.
"Hopefully, we can get a bunch of guys back for Monday," Shanahan said. "I mean, it's real important that we get two good practices in Monday and Tuesday, so hopefully, we're in a better spot Thursday when we go against the Raiders."
Following Thursday's practice, the 49ers and Raiders will face off in their preseason matchup on Saturday, August 16, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.