Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch shook up the 49ers’ locker assignments last season, mixing position groups to avoid cliques and bring the team closer together.
Now it’s mostly random, with a few exceptions. Most notably, linebacker Reuben Foster is directly between respected veterans Richard Sherman and Pierre Garçon — and near nose tackle Earl Mitchell, who’s quietly a revered leader-by-example type. On the adjacent corner is left tackle Joe Staley, the team’s emotional superintendent.
“It’s fun. It’s an adventure,” said Sherman when asked what it’s like to be Foster’s locker room neighbor. “As I found out today as I was walking in here, and he had a snafu where he decided he was going to get undressed in the middle of the locker room at this very moment in time, when I was walking out there.