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matters, Foster hasn’t been totally estranged, having kept in contact weekly with coach Kyle Shanahan and receiving support from teammates. Safeties Adrian Colbert and Jaquiski Tartt escorted Foster to court Wednesday, and cornerback Richard Sherman did so at Foster’s April 12 arraignment.

Thursday’s practice was closed to the media – the 49ers permit one OTA viewing per week, and it happened Tuesday – so the extent of Foster’s participation was not immediately known.

The NFL still will have a say in whether he faces suspension. Foster is due back in court June 6 for a pretrial hearing on an assaultweapons possession charge that Klippen reduced to a misdemeanor. He also has a court date June 20 in Alabama on a marijuna possession charge that could count against him in the NFL’S substance-abuse program.

Foster has yet to comment on any of his legal issues this offseason.

While he worked out on his own, the 49ers opened their offseason program without him in mid-april, and they shifted into organized team activities this week.

Korey Toomer, a veteran acquired in free agency, lined up in Foster’s presumed spot on the first-string defense Tuesday next to fellow inside linebacker Malcolm Smith, while the secondteam tandem featured draft pick Fred Warner and a rotation of Elijah Lee and Mark Nzeocha.

Foster, if fully cleared from a conditioning standpoint, figures to line up next to Smith on the first-string defense. Smith, formerly of the Raiders and Seattle Seahawks, did not play last season because of a pectoral tear, and Foster missed seven games because of injuries (ankle, rib, shoulder).