The San Francisco 49ers are midway through their offseason workout program, but they will be absent one key figure after rookie minicamp. Their first round pick, defensive end Solomon Thomas, is allowed to participate in rookie minicamp, but then cannot rejoin the team until after Stanford final exams come to an end.
The NFL and NCAA agreed on this rule a long time ago (I don’t recall exactly when). The idea behind it is that players can remain on track for graduation. It is an outdated rule considering the fact that frequently players are no longer attending class in the spring once they begin draft preparations.