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The 49ers are in Arizona. Wednesday marked the first day the team fully settled into their new digs, where they’ll remain for at least the next two-plus weeks, and likely after they return from their trip to Dallas. Through the lens of a Zoom call, with a new chair for players and coaches the most marked difference, it all seemed fairly normal for how weird it is.
Shanahan readies players for a lonely few weeks
For now, it sounds like Glendale is… fine. That’s coming on Day 1, though. Players could be mistaken for treating it like a road practice week. We’ll see how the mood changes once the team has spent nearly four-straight weeks out there.
Fred Warner said he enjoyed having the practice and workout facilities and living area effectively adjoined. Nick Mullens, who, like Raheem Mostert, left his wife, Haleigh, and son, Luke, behind for the season, said it wasn’t a seismic adjustment.
Mullens served as a reminder that there’s no set standard for how players, coaches and their families approach this. Some players, like Mostert and Mullens, left their families behind for the season.
Others stayed with them, and are now feeling that same emotional stress that Mostert and Mullens felt from the outset as they leave behind their families.
The difference now is that the end of the season looms somewhat larger, and with Shanahan’s promise that players will be able to spend Christmas with their families (despite a December 26 game in Arizona against the Cardinals), there is an impending reprieve from what could be a very lonely few weeks for players in the desert.
Shanahan told roughly 20 players to look out for one another, and to make coaches aware if players are struggling.
“Those things will build up on guys and each guy will handle it differently,” Shanahan said. “So, I just try to tell everyone, no matter what, when someone has a problem, whatever it is, there’s no problem too big or too small. A lot of guys keep that stuff internally, but I met with a bunch of the players and I grabbed about 20 of them last night and just told them to look out for that stuff and make sure that whether they come to me, a position coach, we have lots of people here who aren’t coaches or players who can help people.
“So, it’s just understanding that it’s human nature. Some stuff’s going to come up over the next three weeks and no one ignore it. Just always bring it to someone’s attention because the worst thing you could be in these situations is feel kind of alone on an island and we’ve got a big group going through it, so we can rally together and make sure we help each other through it.”
Mullens’ unprompted ode to Jamar Taylor
At the end of a relatively normal press conference—at least given the circumstances of a global pandemic and the 49ers conducting it via Zoom in Arizona—Mullens made a point to shout out Jamar Taylor.
Taylor, 30, tore his ACL last Sunday, and is in his eighth season as a professional, having played for seven teams.
Mullens highlighted Taylor in a way that revealed how much he valued him as the veteran who replaced K’Waun Williams at a nickel position this team relies heavily upon. Taylor wasn’t playing at an All-Pro level, but he improved and held down a position at a time San Francisco was desperate for that sort of reliability.
In normal years, with reporters having daily access to the locker room, Taylor’s presence, though quiet, would likely have been known. But this is 2020, and we’ve spoken with Taylor once since he joined the team in training camp. There’s no seeing how players interact with one another in that locker room setting, and who really gets leaned upon as a veteran.
Keep in mind, Richard Sherman was out since Week 1, and with COVID-19 restrictions, players aren’t just hanging out with each other in the locker room like they normally would. He wasn’t around for most of this season, and when a void that large is created, other players need to fill it. The way Mullens spoke of Taylor, it sounds like he provided some of that missed leadership, albeit in a lead-by-example sort of fashion.
“Normally I don’t talk about too many guys but just want to — I hate that Jamar Taylor got hurt the way that he did,” Mullens said. “Just prayers and shout out to him. I really only say this because he’s a silent guy, he did not talk a lot in the locker room. I kind of just asked him about his journey through when he first got here through camp, eight years. And he’s a guy who’s earned everything he’s gotten in this league, and I got a lot of respect for, and to see him do his job and fill in the way that he did, those are the guys that you respect in the locker room.
“So I have a lot of respect for Jamar, and it was really tough to see him get hurt the way that he did. With the type of guy that he is, I know he’s going to battle back as strong as ever. So I’ve got a lot of respect for Jamar and I wanted people to know how much of a veteran and I guess silent leader he was on this team.”
Injury/roster notes:
- Deebo Samuel was held out of practice on Wednesday as a precautionary measure and due to soreness, having returned after three weeks out with a hamstring injury
- K’Waun Williams (ankle sprain) remained out of practice and is not expected to return this week
- Tight end Daniel Helm was the final player activated off the Reserve/COVID-19 list on Wednesday and was immediately released from the practice squad