49ers need to focus on football in joint practice…
The San Francisco 49ers will probably be friends in the Los Angeles Chargers’ El Segungo facility this week for their second joint practice of the preseason.
They’d better be on better habits than when they welcomed the Tennessee Titans last week … by instigating a half dozen skirmishes, including a handful in the first few snaps.
The two-week countdown to the Niners’ departure for down under formally begins at the conclusion of Tuesday’s joint practice. The common season is correct around the nook.
It’s time to put the extracurriculars behind them and flip the focus to football.
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, left, jogs on the sector before a preseason NFL football sport against the Tennessee Titans on Friday, August 14, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) AP Photo/Kelley L. Cox
“We’ll see if we can go out there and have a more composed practice and play a little bit better and play faster and do some different things that we want to do,” defensive coordinator Raheem Morris said. “I think it’s just a steady process to get to that first game.”
Morris’ unit was accountable for most of the hubbub last week. The Niners’ protection got here out firing on all cylinders — too many cylinders — that led to time-wasting dustups and, more consequentially, two gamers ultimately being tossed out for throwing punches.
That’s a pair of doubtlessly productive practices gone down the drain.
“You don’t really care about scuffles. You just hate losing guys,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “The player loses all the reps for the day and then your position’s down for the whole day, so that usually can be a chain reaction to other guys. That’s why we don’t want that to happen.”
Some sparring is inevitable. After all, this is football. Violence is the purpose.
But every second spent clearing the air after a scuffle is another snap misplaced in some of the most beneficial conditions for a coach to consider his football group in the preseason.
“You want them to have their edge, but there’s a certain amount of work that you want to be able to get done,” Morris said. “You need to have the power to take it to that edge and stroll that line but have the ability to play the sport and have the ability to get the stuff they need to get executed. Composure is about all the pieces that we do in our sport, so it’s just one of those issues.
“You’re not worried about it at all. You just want to be able to take it to joint practices, right? We’ve seen these guys play a bunch of games, a lot of these guys. And so, I’m not worried about that one bit. But in practice, let’s use that same demeanor, that same temperament.”
Mike Evans #5 of the San Francisco 49ers works out during training camp practice at SAP Performance Facility on Monday, July 27, 2026, in Santa Clara, California. (Getty Images North America) Getty Images
49ers real take a look at before NFL season
One cause why San Francisco’s starters got here out with so a lot gusto in last week’s joint practice was because they knew they weren’t going to play in the preseason sport two nights later. The same goes this week. Tuesday is the true take a look at for the gamers that matter.
“The joint practices are really the big measuring stick,” offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said. “That’s where we know we have a plan about how many reps guys are going to get. We know what we’re going against. That’ll be set going into that practice. That’s a big day for our team.”
Justin Herbert ought to present the stiffest take a look at yet for the 49ers’ secondary, which so far has seemed like their strongest group of camp. Brock Purdy will attempt to live up to his new nickname — “The Layer King” — against a protection led by Derwin James Jr. that yielded the fifth-fewest yards in the NFL last season.
Coaches will probably be paying particularly close consideration to the trenches, where Robert Jones, Carver Willis and Connor Colby all take snaps against the Chargers’ first-string protection making an attempt to gain the higher hand on the depth chart at left guard in the top place battle left in camp.
You received’t see that Thursday evening.
Kimani Vidal #28 of the Los Angeles Chargers takes the sector during a preseason sport against the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, on Thursday, August 13, 2026. (Getty Images North America) Getty Images
Shanahan spent a portion of the first joint session chatting with Saleh, his former defensive coordinator. He figures to have some catching up to do with Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, an assistant his first 4 seasons in San Francisco.
(Side wager: How many phrases does he share with Trey Lance, now the Chargers’ backup QB?)
The Niners haven’t taken half in many joint practices under Shanahan before this 12 months. But with his former assistants now floating about the league, some of the logistics are simpler.
They also give him an neutral and trusted source to level out his group’s flaws. He may give them the same type of unfiltered notes, just as he would if they had been still on his employees.
It helps that both Saleh and McDaniels’ current employers are in the AFC.
“We’re not the biggest note takers, but we’re more FaceTimers,” Shanahan said of him and Saleh. “So, we sat there and FaceTimed a little bit the last two nights, just talking about what we saw from each other. It’s a little bit easier when you’re in different conferences. You don’t have to lie as much.”
Let’s just hope they’ve football to speak about this week, not a cage match.
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