How the 49ers Benefit From Joint Practices With the Chargers

There are plenty of benefits that the 49ers will reap in their joint practices with the Chargers.

A change of scenery never hurts.

The 49ers will be heading down to Los Angeles on Thursday to conduct joint practices with the Chargers. Along with the many things that were taken away last season, joint practices are something that so many teams lost out on.

The benefits of a joint practice can equate, or even surpass, the intensity of a preseason game.

“I mean, you get sick of going schematically verse the same stuff over and over,” Kyle Shanahan said. “The same fronts, the same coverages. I also think you get sick of going against the same guys too. And especially the players with that. So to be able to go out there and you have similar practices, but you get all new fronts, all new coverages, which takes people time to adjust to, and being able to do that without having a card up a period and stuff like that, which you start doing in Week 1. I think it's a huge advantage. 

'And you can't generate everything in games either. I mean, the stuff you hope happens doesn't always happen and you can make sure you do that in practice. And when you're doing it against another team, I think that's why I've put more into that than the game.”

For the players, they get to go up against new and lively competition rather than their teammates which becomes stale and routine. Just imagine having to eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday. Most of us would be fed up or wouldn’t feel as satisfied anymore. By facing another team in practice, it is as if the 49ers and Chargers will be given a new plate of food to eat.

Plus, going up against the same players day in and day out alerts players to each other’s tendencies. Whereas in joint practices, players are on a neutral ground. They’re not looking at film on the other team and certainly not game planning. It’ll be refreshing to be able to hit new players for the two teams. 

There is also the opportunity to get to face the star players of the Chargers such as Justin Herbert, Keenan Allen, Joey Bosa (maybe), and Derwin James. These players have already been ruled out on Sunday at SoFi Stadium, so this is the only time the 49ers can utilize reps against the Chargers’ superb talent. It’s not just the scrimmages that will be beneficial in practice, which seeing Trey Lance against that defense will be fantastic for him, but the one-on-ones. Allen versus Jason Verrett, Austin Ekeler against Fred Warner, and the list goes on

From a coaches standpoint, it’ll let them know where their players stand somewhat. There obviously isn’t going to be game planning for each other, so these practices will solely be based off proper execution of plays and talent. By the end of these two joint practices, the 49ers will have learned some more about their players. It makes sense why Shanahan is looking forward to this week’s competition so much.