49ers relish Navy SEALs’ visit, workout as they seek new bond this offseason

SANTA CLARA Half of the ers roster is new The crew needed this offseason operation to achieve more than getting guys in shape and back on the field They needed to form a reliable bond between the seasoned veterans and the hot-shot newcomers And they needed Navy SEALs to help The ers spent a current week submerged so to speak in SEALs training to transform them back into an elite special operations force in the NFL by air and land but apparently not the sea all due respect to the Navy s historic unit Programs aside what the ers really tapped into was the benefit of communication from hearing awe-inspiring stories from the SEALs to discovering heartfelt nuggets about their teammates backgrounds This ers regime led by coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch has brought in SEALs training in the past In that duo was doing sit-ups alongside players and Jimmy Garoppolo was hollering Oorah while lugging a log with teammates A decade ago ers alumni got to work alongside retired SEALs Brock Purdy like the greater part current ers had not been through that SEALs experience and he relished it more than any other aspect of the offseason operation which wraps up with mandatory minicamp Tuesday and Wednesday Hearing their stories and what it s like being on a SEALs gang unit and how that translates to us being a football association and doing stuff that s not ordinary it was pretty special for me and eye-opening for sure Purdy explained Tight end George Kittle last year s recipient of the NFL and USAA s Salute to System Award obviously embraced the SEALs stories and team-building exercises They talk about what the Navy SEALs standard is how they uphold that how they built that and how they wrote it Kittle commented You learn a lot of cool stuff from them Kittle revealed it absolutely crazy to hear stories such as SEALs cramming into little clear fishing boats that were supposed to hold like pounds they had five guys packed in them fully packed and are going up a river in the middle of a day and they somehow came back from that Shanahan estimated this was the third time in his nine years that the ers have signaled for the SEALs to just come in and give a few classroom work We do an activity a kind of paintball-type thing it wasn t paintballs though It s just Navy SEALs stuff Purdy marveled at the presentations and absorbed how meaningful it is to uphold a standard and beliefs among peers The events and things that we did with each other were pretty cool Purdy disclosed and the conversations that we ve all had because we re with guys that are on defense talking about what it means to be a Niner and like what it takes So I think that was a pretty special moment Adversity awaits every NFL season every week every day And every ers participant will take a different path via a different background to make the season-opening roster in three months Thus one resounding benefit of SEALs Week was to hear teammates share their experiences from a subdued superstar like Christian McCaffrey to a free agent defensive back Related Articles Kurtenbach I see the vision for the ers much-maligned offensive line and it s just fine ers Mac Jones who played for Saban and Belichick turns to Kyle Shanahan for help ers OTA recap Nick Bosa embraces very different band channels form ers D-line guru Kris Kocurek looks to atone for collapse Where will Bryce Huff stack up among ers various pass-rush wingmen for Nick Bosa Me and Fred talk a lot but it s really good for the other guys on the club to have their voices heard Kittle announced You want leadership to come from everybody That s one of the things the SEALs facilitate Everybody evidenced up during the ers voluntary phase of the offseason project which started on April The -man draft class joined in last month showing Shanahan that we ve got chosen workers I know we ve got guys who really love football The ers bond will continue to grow through locker room hijinks weight-lifting sessions meeting-room instructions and unexpected twists in a challenging upcoming season It s going to be a special thing and a unique thing to be able to get guys that are new coming in and we ve got to roll together Purdy added We got to go through selected things together