A highly anticipated set of joint practices between the New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers will not be happening after all.
The decision was made this week due to mounting injuries on San Francisco's side. The 49ers had nearly two-dozen players miss a recent practice.
Saints head coach Dennis Allen said 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan initially called on Saturday to broach the idea of cancelling the joint sessions, and that was confirmed prior to practice on Sunday.
“I enjoy the joint practices. I think it’s good to get up against somebody else, but other than that, we’re still gonna get some good work here," Allen said, "so not really that concerned about it."
He added that the team will use the "skeleton" of the plan they intended to use in those sessions for more offense vs defense practices.
The 49ers were scheduled to travel down to Irvine, where the Saints are holding their 2024 camp, for a set of joint sessions on Thursday and Friday ahead of their preseason matchup on Sunday. Instead the teams will have to wait until Sunday evening.
Related
The decision means the Saints will lose an opportunity to gauge themselves against one of the top teams in the NFC, and will instead hold more offense vs defense sessions. It's the second consecutive season that joint practices have been scuttled due to injury, with the Texans opting for the same decision in last year's preseason.
New Orleans is dealing with significant injury issues of its own with 16 players missing their final practice before the preseason opener against the Cardinals. The team will now have an interesting choice to make in terms of playing time for the starters in Week 2.
The Saints' final practice in Irvine will be on Friday, and they'll travel to San Francisco on Saturday before returning home to New Orleans for their preseason finale against the Tennessee Titans and a final set of practices, two of which will be open to fans.