49ers Quarterbacks and Rookies Report to Training Camp

The season started in a parking lot this year.

The season started in a parking lot this year.

On Thursday, the 49ers quarterbacks, injured players and rookies reported to the team facility in Santa Clara, but weren’t actually allowed inside the facility. They gathered outside in the 49ers’ executive parking lot, where the team assembled six open-air tents, and received their first round of tests for the coronavirus.

The rest of the 49ers will arrive for tests in the parking lot on Tuesday, July 28, unless of course tight George Kittle or running back Raheem Mostert holds out. Kittle has requested a contract extension and Mostert has requested a raise. If those two show up, and they probably should, will the 49ers greet them with renegotiated deals, or just long, skinny q-tips up their noses?

That’s the coronavirus test, and it is quite unpleasant, although not painful from my experience.

After the first round of tests, players will quarantine in the 49ers’ team hotel for two days, get tested a second time and, if they pass both tests, then finally they’ll be allowed inside the team facility. And then they’ll have daily tests, meaning daily q-tips up their noses for two weeks. And if fewer than five percent of the players test positive for coronavirus during that time, then they can take the test every other day.

And if everything goes well, and the 49ers’ don’t have a massive outbreak in their locker room, practices should start roughly three weeks from now, in mid to late August.

It seems the 49ers have come up with the best possible way to have training camp during a Covid-19 pandemic. Whether a football season will be possible this year is another story.