49ers Insider Matt Maiocco likes what he’s seen from Trent Taylor’s workouts this offseason and explains why the fully healthy wide receiver is the clear favorite for targets out of the slot in 2020.
The path is clear for the 49ers and Raiders to begin training camp and start the 2020 NFL season.
The NFL Players Association's player representatives approved the owners' changes to the collective bargaining agreement by a 29-3 margin, the union announced Friday.
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Rookies, quarterbacks and injured players on the 49ers, Raiders and other 30 NFL teams began reporting to team facilities earlier this week to undergo initial testing for the coronavirus. The NFLPA's approval means training camps will start "as scheduled," according to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
"The season will undoubtedly present new and additional challenges, but we are committed to playing a safe and complete 2020 season," Goodell said in a statement, "culminating with the Super Bowl."
The 49ers and Raiders can now truly begin preparations for their season, which will be played as the coronavirus continues to spread within the United States. Their training camps will look much different as a result.
Players on every NFL team will be tested daily for COVID-19 from Days 5 through 14 of training camp, with testing only moving to every other day after two weeks if the positive test rates of players, coaches and staff are below 5 percent. Facilities have been or will be set up to ensure social distancing off the field, and the 49ers have even removed chairs from their team cafeteria while limiting meals to takeout only.
The revised CBA includes provisions for players who choose to opt out of the season, ESPN's Josina Anderson and NFL Media's Tom Pelissero reported Friday. "High-risk" players, or those in the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention's "increased risk" categories, will receive a $350,000 stipend and accrue a season, according to Pelissero. Players who voluntarily opt out won't accrue a season and will receive a $150,000 advance on their salary.
ESPN's Adam Schefter reported players will have seven days to opt out after the CBA is signed.
Among the other changes coming to the CBA, according to multiple reports, are:
- An unchanged salary cap for the 2020 season and a salary cap of at least $175 million in 2021, per The Athletic's Lindsay Jones.
- Eighty-man training-camp rosters by Aug. 16, according to Jones.
- Sixteen-player practice squads, per Jones.
- Meetings of 15-plus players will be virtual, with some exceptions, according to ESPN's Josina Anderson.
- No preseason games, according to multiple reports.
[RELATED: Shanahan weighs pros, cons of no preseason games]
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The last point means the 49ers and Raiders won't play one another this preseason. The teams have not played against one another in the preseason since 2011 due to concerns over fan violence. This would've been their first matchup -- exhibition or otherwise -- since the Raiders left Oakland for Las Vegas earlier this year.
The NFL previously announced its regular-season schedule, and those dates now are officially on. The 49ers are set to open the season on Sept. 13 on the road against the Arizona Cardinals, while the Raiders will play the Carolina Panthers on the same day in Charlotte.
