49ers top pick signs on 1st day of practice
SANTA CLARA — Solomon Thomas signed his contract, rushed to the locker room to throw on a jersey and cleats, and ran out to the field to join the rest of his San Francisco 49ers teammates at the first training camp practice under coach Kyle Shanahan.
“It was amazing to get out here and be here Day 1 with my team,” Thomas said Friday. “I’m just very glad we got this done as quickly as possible.”
Thomas was able to pass the conditioning test while his teammates practiced and then watched the team drills in the final half of practice. He is expected to jump right in on Saturday.
“We’ve seen Solomon. We’ve seen his workouts and stuff. He’s a guy I believe is in shape,” Shanahan said. “I expect to see him out there tomorrow.”
While Thomas was anxious to join his teammates while waiting at his college campus at Stanford for the deal to get done, he said he wasn’t worried this would be a long-term absence even though Chargers defensive lineman Joey Bosa missed a month last summer after also being drafted third overall and being represented by CAA.
Thomas said he didn’t get involved in the details of the negotiations between his agent and general manager John Lynch and just waited to be told when the deal was done.
“I was not concerned at all,” Thomas said. “I trusted my agent. I hired him for a reason. He knew how fast I wanted to get out there. He knew that I wanted to be out there with the team. He knows I didn’t want to be by myself for another month. I was going to let him take care of everything. Both parties worked extremely hard and got things done as quickly as possible.”
Now Thomas can be part of a rebuilding project in San Francisco after the 49ers matched a franchise record with 14 losses last season.
That led to the firing of coach Chip Kelly and general manager Trent Baalke in the latest organizational overhaul. Coach Jim Harbaugh was forced out in 2014 after a four-year tenure that included three trips to the NFC title game and one Super Bowl loss and Jim Tomsula lasted just one season before being replaced by Kelly.
Now with Lynch and Shanahan in place and armed with six-year contracts, the 49ers appear to have the stability that had been lacking in recent years. That’s why the players who have endured the recent turmoil are so excited about the start of camp.