How 49ers' practice squad helps keep team sharp every week

SANTA CLARA — There are approximately 20 players who hit the 49ers' practice field but are not rewarded at the end of the week with a uniform on game days.

Those players, both young and experienced, are battling for a coveted role on the 49ers, who enter the playoffs next week as the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

Wide receiver Wille Snead IV, 31, has been playing this game professionally for nine seasons. And he might be more driven now, as a member of the 49ers’ practice squad, than at any other point in his NFL career.

“We get mad at him a lot, ‘Willie, chill out,’” 49ers Pro Bowl cornerback Charvarius Ward told NBC Sports Bay Area. “But that’s not who he is. He’s a worker, and he feels like he should be on the 53-man roster. So he’s going to work to get on the 53-man roster.”

Ward might not always appreciate being pushed in practices against Snead and the team’s other scout-team wide receivers while in the grind of a 17-game regular season.

But, upon taking a step back, he realizes that intense daily work was essential to prepare him, Deommodore Lenoir, Ambry Thomas and the team’s other defensive backs.

“It never allows you to relax,” Ward said. “They’re going to work hard. They’re not the starters but they work hard like they are the starters. It forces you to perfect your craft and not take any plays off, because they’re not going to take it easy when they’re out there getting their reps. It forces you to work hard.”

The 49ers plan to have two days of hard practices this week before learning against which team they will open the playoffs on either Jan. 20 or 21.

The members of the 16-player practice squad have a sense of responsibility to push themselves — and the starters — to keep the practices crisp and the execution sharp. There are up to seven other non-regulars on the team's 53-man roster who can practice but be declared inactive for games.

“I’m keeping that mindset of just trying to be better each and every day, help my teammates across from me get better and just trying to be humble about the situation,” Snead said. “I’m content in this moment because next year you never know what it’ll look like.

"I appreciate the guys I’m around and the (postseason) run we could go on.”

Each team is allowed to carry six veteran players on their practice squad. Snead has appeared in 103 games with 48 starts in his career. In his first two NFL seasons with the New Orleans Saints, he teamed up with Drew Brees to catch 141 passes for 1,879 yards and seven touchdowns. He was solidly established in the NFL with the Saints and Baltimore Ravens for his first six seasons.

But Snead played in just 17 games over the past three seasons with three different teams and had just six catches for 52 yards and no touchdowns.

For now, Snead understands and embraces his role on the 49ers.

“It’s an awesome culture,” he said. “We have a great team, and it’s amazing to be a part of it. In the big picture, that’s what keeps me grounded, that’s what keeps me out of that space of being frustrated.

“I do have a lot of credibility in this league, but we have a really talented team, and I have to play my role and be ready for the opportunity, if it comes again.”

Coach Kyle Shanahan said he dislikes the title of “practice squad,” because it makes those players sound as if they are “walk-ons or something.”

“If you don't have the right people on the practice squad, it's really tough to be successful throughout the year,” Shanahan said. “You need people on the practice squad to develop them because there's nowhere else to develop people. But you also need people on the practice squad who are ready to play.”

Linebacker Curtis Robinson recently turned down a spot on the Tennessee Titans’ 53-man roster — practice squad players are essentially free agents — to remain in the lower-paying, less-prestigious role with the 49ers.

Robinson embodies the selfless attitude of what the 49ers desire from their non-starters. He said he felt committed to the 49ers through the end of the season because he placed the team’s goals as his No. 1 priority over landing on the 53-man roster for a significantly higher weekly paycheck from a non-playoff team.

“I understand that we’re after something a lot bigger than that,” Robinson said. “We all have a part in it.”

Rarely a game went by this season when the 49ers did not elevate the maximum number of two practice squad players to suit up for games. Snead appeared in four regular-season games and caught two passes for 14 yards.

But Snead, Tay Martin and some of the other reserve wide receivers made a bigger impact on the practice field leading up to games.

And, yes, sometimes the competition gets contentious.

“Those boys definitely work hard,” Ward said. “We’re about to fight their ass sometimes. They’re working hard as hell. And we're like, ‘Chill out!’

“They want to show the coaches what they can do. They feel like we’re starters in the NFL and they’re not on the 53-man roster. So if they beat us, they feel like they can beat all starters. That’s probably why they work hard.”

Snead caught 19 passes in six playoff games with the Saints and Ravens. And he understands there is a good chance he will be inactive for each of the 49ers’ postseason games.

But he takes a little pride in seeing Ward establish himself as one of the top cornerbacks in the league and Lenoir develop into a solid NFL starter.

“I’m always talking to those guys and they’re always talking to me,” Snead said. “I sit by those guys on the buses. I always give them my perspective from a wide receiver’s standpoint, and I always ask them what do you see when you play receivers.

“It’s a good relationship. It’s a competitive relationship at the same time. It’s great to be a part of, and it motivates me to continue to get better.”

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