Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
Your San Francisco/Santa Clara/Glendale 49ers, everyone. On Wednesday, the organization moves to Arizona for at least the next three weeks.
To the desert we go
To be clear, we really mean the organization. From Jed York and John Lynch and Parag Marathe through the coaching staff and players, to the performance and cooking staff; every member of the 49ers that can conceivably be brought while following COVID-19 protocols, will be brought, Kyle Shanahan said Tuesday.
The Arizona Cardinals volunteered their University of Arizona Stadium, in Glendale, and likely helped to organize the 49ers’ stay at The Renaissance Hotel, which sits adjoined to the Cardinals’ training camp practice facility.
Thanks to a Monday night slot for their upcoming game against the Buffalo Bills, the team can leave tomorrow and begin its normal practice week starting Thursday.
This is the result of Santa Clara County announcing Saturday, as the team boarded its plane to Los Angeles, that, due to rising cases of COVID-19 in the county, contact sports would be banned from November 30 through December 21 at every level: youth, collegiate, professional.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said a stay-at-home order would likely have to be instituted if case numbers continue to rise, given that current projections expect hospital ICU bed capacity to reach 100 percent by the start of the year.
Players found out they were being kicked out of the county via a John Lynch intercom announcement on the plane, and/or Twitter and messages from friends or family. Shanahan and the organization were incensed at what they felt was no prior notice by the county of this impending decision.
So, in the name of safety, the county, which had previously agreed to let the team practice and play at a fan-less Levi’s Stadium, and after the team says it accommodated the county’s requests in addition to following the NFL’s daily testing and distancing protocols—including wristwatch monitors to alert players and coaches when they’re within six feet of one another—and with a contact tracing procedure to identify close contacts, the 49ers got the boot.
Kicked out of their community, they must now move their entire operation to Maricopa County, where cases are higher (currently 1,915 average daily cases and 43 cases per 100,000 people), than in Santa Clara County (569 average daily cases and 30 cases per 100,000 people).
Shanahan said the team would take this week to get a lay of the land, and just figure out exactly how this will all work. He didn’t have many answers, given the complexity of the endeavor being embarked upon, but he did make one promise to his team.
“I just tried to tell our guys that I don’t care what happens, we’re not going to spend Christmas without our families,” Shanahan said. “We’ll figure it out.”
What that process of bringing out family members entails is not yet clear, but Shanahan expressed confidence in getting support from team CEO Jed York on that front.
Garoppolo, Kittle on the mend?
Back to football, this season still, somehow, has life. At 5-6, the 49ers have to win at least four of their five remaining games to have a viable path to the playoffs, and can guarantee a playoff berth by winning out.
If they continue winning, Jimmy Garoppolo and George Kittle could return. Shanahan has said previously he wouldn’t bring them back to play in meaningless games.
Both could return with two games remaining, one game remaining, or not at all. At present, there’s no certainty to the situation. Kittle’s initial eight-week timeline for his foot fracture put his return at the final week of the season.
“I’m holding out hope for Jimmy for the last couple of weeks, same with Kittle,” Shanahan said. “I think they’re in a similar boat with that and that’s not guaranteed. It’s how they react over here the next couple of weeks, but they’re just starting to get into where they can get on the field and not with us, but on their own and do some stuff. That’s hopefully going to be the last couple of weeks, whether it’s two games or one game or none. That’s why I was very happy with how we played last week and hopefully we can continue to do that.”
Ford, Richburg and Blair likely done for the year
Dee Ford’s goal was to play in all 16 games this season. He’ll have played in one by season’s end, which will likely mark the end of his brief, but expensive tenure with the 49ers. He’s dealt with an unspecified back injury, and has a history of serious back injuries and surgery to repair a disc, which at one point, left doubts about whether he’d be able to walk again.
Shanahan does not expect he’ll return this season.
“It’s not looking like it,” Shanahan said. “I’m not gonna say no for sure. We’re holding out hope, but it’s not looking like it.”
A major issue in play here is Ford’s contract. If he’s cut, he has a massive dead cap hit of $14.34 million, but it would still save $6.43 million in cap space next season, and get him off the books in 2022 and 2023.
The problem there is that, according to OverTheCap, Ford has a partial injury guarantee in his contract. If he can’t pass a physical, he’ll have additional money guaranteed if the 49ers try and cut him. And he’d need to pass that physical before April 11, because that’s when $11.6 million of his base salary for 2021 would guarantee.
At that point, cutting Ford would cost $25.9 million in dead cap space. So, if he doesn’t get healthy, cutting him will only get more expensive.
Ford won’t be alone as a 2020 disappointment. Both Weston Richburg and Ronald Blair III will not be returning this season after complications with their recoveries.
“Both of them had really bad setbacks with the stuff that happened in their surgeries,” Shanahan said. “I know they both are trying as hard as anyone, but it’s not looking very good right now.”
Richburg had his deal restructured for a second time this year, moving more money to 2020, and removing a pair of voidable years. The 49ers restructured Laken Tomlinson’s contract to effectively offset that amount. It was a move that looks like the 49ers are gearing up to cut Richburg, which would save $4.89 million next year, with a $6.97 million dead cap hit (would have been $8.44 million before the second restructure).
Blair suffered a torn ACL last season and was hoped to be key down the stretch as a rotational edge rusher.
Shanahan reveals how COVID-19 spread
There was a question posed to Shanahan as to whether this experience in Arizona could be something of a time to bond.
No. Not at all. How dare you. That (aside from that last part) was the tone of Shanahan’s answer, as he recalled and revealed how players made the mistake of getting together after the New Orleans game, which is discernibly how nine players ended up on the Reserve/COVID-19 list during the bye week.
“Honestly, no [bonding], none at all. We’re not allowed to bond in those spots,” Shanahan said. “That’s what guys did for 30 minutes after dinner after the New Orleans game, and that’s what got us a couple positive tests during our bye week, so we don’t have tables out where they can eat, so people don’t hang out.”
Shanahan made it clear that players can only really bond on the field, and when they’re in practice. When they’re in the hotel, they’re required to isolate in their rooms.
As you’d expect, he didn’t sound overly enthusiastic about that prospect of putting the team in a hotel for three-plus weeks.
“We’re used to getting away for a week or so, but I can’t tell you how sick of each other we are after a week in a hotel,” Shanahan said. “Usually that week’s good and we play better, but then after that week, guys need to get home. So, a week’s not the daunting thing. It’s the month of December that guys get a little overwhelmed with. So that’s why I’m just trying to get guys to not think of it that way.”