49ers nix joint practices with Saints due to mounting injury concerns

Aug 12, 2024, 10:44 AM

Saints; Tight end Troy Fumagalli #88 of the San Francisco 49ers runs on a field with teammates duri...

HENDERSON, NEVADA - AUGUST 10: Tight end Troy Fumagalli #88 of the San Francisco 49ers runs on a field with teammates during a joint practice with the Las Vegas Raiders at the Las Vegas Raiders Headquarters/Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center on August 10, 2023 in Henderson, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

BY AMILIANO FRAGOSO

San Francisco 49ers Beat Writer

The 49ers 2024 Training Camp has had a bumpy start, now adding another wrinkle to the fold with joint practices being cancelled.

Reports emerged Monday afternoon that the San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints and mutually agreed to cancel their joint practice sessions in Irvine, CA on Thursday and Friday. Instead, the Red & Gold will stay in Santa Clara, citing injury concerns as there main culprit behind the cancellation. The 49ers and Saints will still play their Week 2 preseason game at Levi’s Stadium Sunday.

The Athletic’s Matt Barrows and ESPN’s Nick Wagoner were first with the news, as the team announced their decision thereafter.

The 49ers’ joint practices with the Saints this week? They’re not happening. The team decided to scuttle the Thurs-Fri trip to Irvine, Calif. because the roster is so banged up. Kyle Shanahan said last night that 23 players missed the most recent practice for various reasons.

— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) August 11, 2024

San Francisco has been struggling with the injury bug through the first few weeks of 2024 training camp. 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan revealed that the team had 23 players missing from their most recent practice.

“It’s awesome to get a chance to scrimmage against people,” Shanahan said following the team’s 17-13 loss to the Tennessee Titans Saturday. “We’re a little banged up. So, we’ve got to figure out how we can pull that off and stuff like that. It seems like losing Ambry [Thomas] will be tough. Hope a number of other things don’t pop up tomorrow, but last week we had 23 guys out of practice last time but we practiced. So hopefully we can get more of those guys back so we can have a decent scrimmage.”

Unfortunately, Shanahan & Co. couldn’t find a quick fit to the injury woes, deciding it was best to bag the trip to Southern California entirely.

“Kyle reached out to me yesterday, making me aware that they have some things going on in terms of having enough able bodies to have some good practices,” New Orleans Saints’ coach Dennis Allen told the media Monday.

This will make the second time under Shanahan that the 49ers will not hold joint practices with another team during the preseason. SF hosted the Denver Broncos in 2017, then hit the road for trips to Houston (2018), Denver (2019), Costa Mesa (Chargers 2021), Minnesota (2022), and Las Vegas (2023).