The San Francisco 49ers are back at Levi's® Stadium, and in less than 24 hours, will kickoff training camp for the 2024 season. Rookies reported last week, and the veterans checked in on Tuesday morning.
Ahead of the team's first practice on Wednesday, president of football operations and general manager John Lynch, head coach Kyle Shanahan, tight end George Kittle and defensive lineman Nick Bosa addressed the media to offer updates involving injuries, contract negotiations and the mindset of the team headed into the new season.
Four 49ers players will begin the 2024 season on the physically unable to perform or non-football injury or illness list.
Safety Talanoa Hufanga (ACL), linebacker Dre Greenlaw (Achilles) and defensive lineman Drake Jackson (patella tendon) have all landed on the PUP list while wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (hamstring) has been placed on the NFI list ahead of training camp. The main difference between these two designations is that players on the NFI list suffered their injuries or ailments outside of NFL activities. Per Lynch, Pearsall "injured his hamstring away from here (49ers headquarters)." Meanwhile, Hufanga, Greenlaw and Jackson are all working through injuries suffered over the course of last season.
According to league guidelines, players placed on these lists during training camp still count towards the team's 90-man roster. They can be taken off their respective lists at any point during training camp but cannot be placed back on once removed. Lynch said the group is "tracking well," but ultimately will not be ready for the start of camp.
Contract negotiations with wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk are ongoing headed into training camp.
"We've had great communication," Lynch said. "We started this really early. We made it a priority to try to get done. We've had excellent communication throughout. I really don't want to characterize. We haven't been able to (reach a deal), and that's a shame. But, Brandon's (been) a big part of our team, and we expect that he will be this year."
The former 2020 first-round draft pick is entering the the fifth and final year of his contract. Aiyuk has led the 49ers in receiving yards in back-to-back years, closing out the 2023 season with a career-high 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns.
Quarterback Brock Purdy enjoyed his first fully healthy offseason as San Francisco's starter and will begin training camp at full-go, which is a much different story from this time last year.
Purdy spent all of his 2023 offseason recovering from a major elbow repair surgery and was still very much in the rehab process at the start of last year's training camp. Fast forward to 2024, the 49ers QB1 has had the opportunity to log reps with his team for the entirety of the offseason workout program and also develop under the tutelage of Shanahan and quarterbacks coach Brian Griese.
"It's cool. It's nice. There was a lot more uncertainty," Shanahan said. "It felt good about him last year, just talking to him every day and watching his rehab. He looked great, but it's still a scary injury. You're nervous when he comes back.
"This year, just being able to go through an offseason that wasn't just in the film room... I know he had a good 40 days away. It's awesome that he got married, and I think he's in a great spot in his life, great spot physically, and I'm just pumped to start tomorrow with him."
After undergoing offseason core muscle surgery, Kittle says he's feeling ready for the start of camp.
The veteran tight end revealed in May that he was dealing with a core muscle injury through the second half of the season before getting surgery not long after the 49ers Super Bowl LVIII run. While playing with injury in 2023 didn't necessarily slow him down (he put together a First-Team All-Pro worthy season), the repair was welcomed by Kittle, and he did spend a good portion of the offseason recovering. Kittle shared that he got down to as low as 214 pounds post-surgery and is back to normal playing weight just in time for football.
"I usually play the whole season around 242 to 245 pounds, and I got back up to 243 this past week, so the weight is all back," Kittle said. "It was kind of an odd offseason because I couldn't train the way that I usually train. It was a lot of recovery, but through OTAs, June and July I was able to get into the rhythm that I wanted to get back into, and I feel prepared to start training camp."
