The 49ers’ voluntary nine-week offseason program is set to kick off on Monday in Santa Clara with coach Chip Kelly and his staff getting their first opportunity to talk football with the team.
But the on-field coaching will have to wait another two weeks.
As outlined by the collective bargaining agreement, here are the three phases of the NFL’s offseason program:
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Phase One (two weeks): Activities are limited to strength and conditioning and physical rehabilitation. Only full-time or part-time strength and conditioning coaches, who have no other coaching responsibilities with the team, are on the field. No other coaches are allowed on the field or to otherwise participate in or observe activities. No footballs shall be permitted to be used, except that quarterbacks may elect to throw to receivers as long as they are not covered by any other player. Players are not allowed to wear helmets.
Phase Two (three weeks): All coaches are allowed on the field. On-field workouts may include individual player instruction and drills, as well as “perfect play” drills, in which the entire offense or defense (but not offense vs. defense) go through slow-paced plays. Team offense vs. team defense drills are not permitted. There also can be no one-on-one drills in which offensive players go up against defensive players, such as offensive line vs. defensive line or receivers vs. defensive backs. Like Phase One, players are not allowed to wear helmets.
Phase Three (four weeks): Each team is allowed a total of 10 days of organized team practice activity (OTAs), including a mandatory minicamp. All coaches are allowed on the field. And while no live contact is permitted at any point during the nine-week program, team drills (offense vs. defense) are permitted. However, no one-on-one offense vs. defense drills are permitted. Teams may require players to wear helmets, but no pads or shells are permitted in the offseason program or minicamps.
49ers offseason dates
First day of Phase One (two weeks): Monday
Local pro day: April 13
First day of Phase Two (three weeks): April 18
Voluntary minicamp: April 26-28
Phase Three (OTA days): May 17-19, May 24-28, May 31, June 1-2
Mandatory minicamp: June 7-9
