49ers announce preseason schedule. What will they learn from game with the Raiders?
The 49ers and Raiders will play a preseason for the first time in a decade.
That was the most notable news coming out of Friday’s exhibition schedule release from San Francisco. The team finalized dates and times for the 49ers’ three preseason games, which is down from the normal four as the regular season expanded one game to a 17-game schedule.
The 49ers’ 2021 preseason schedule:
vs. Kansas City Chiefs
Saturday, Aug. 14, 5:30 p.m. (KPIX 5)
Levi’s Stadium
@ Los Angeles Chargers
Sunday, Aug. 22, 4:30 p.m. (KPIX 5)
Sofi Stadium
vs. Las Vegas Raiders
Sunday, Aug. 29, 1:00 p.m. (KPIX 5)
Levi’s Stadium
The 49ers and Raiders have not played in a preseason game since Aug. 2011 when multiple fights broke out in the stands, two men were shot outside Candlestick Park and one was beaten unconscious in a bathroom. The fear of more violence prevented the teams from playing their annual preseason games over the next decade, with both sides instead playing opponents geographically much further away. The 49ers have had preseason contests against the Vikings, Packers, Texans, Cowboys, Colts and others to avoid repeating the chaotic night in 2011.
The two teams have not played in the regular season or preseason since the Raiders moved to Las Vegas in 2020. They were scheduled to play last season before the exhibition slate was canceled due to the pandemic. The last time the Raiders played in Levi’s Stadium was Nick Mullens’ first career start in Nov. 2018.
San Francisco’s third-string quarterback completed 16-of-22 for 262 yards, three touchdowns and had no interceptions. His 151.9 passer rating was the highest for any player making their NFL debut with at least 20 attempts since 1970. Mullens eventually overtook C.J. Beathard to become the No. 2 signal caller behind Jimmy Garoppolo.
Neither Mullens nor Beathard remain with the 49ers, who traded three first-round picks to take North Dakota State’s Trey Lance with the No. 3 selection in the recent NFL draft. Lance will likely get the vast majority of snaps throughout the preseason after playing just one game in 2020 with the Bison because of the pandemic.
How Lance plays in those games, and if he gets time with the starters, could go a long way toward deciding if he could start early in the season to unseat Garoppolo.
