49ers news: Team can benefit from CFL, XFL partnership

San Francisco 49ers fans: can you smell what The Rock is cooking?

It’s the main course of XFL topped with a heavy dose of CFL stirred together to create something bigger than Dwayne Johnson himself.

The CFL and XFL announced last week they’re in talks to “explore opportunities:”

Nothing will happen until 2022 at the very earliest as the CFL is committed to playing their 2021 season after missing all of last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There have been many speculations going around including having an American and Canadian division. The CFL has tried and failed to have American cities join their league. The Baltimore Stallions were the only US-based team to win the Grey Cup.

TSN’s Dave Naylor broke down his thoughts on what’s going to happen to this newfound partnership.

XFL owner Dwayne Johnson is the most successful CFL player to never play in a regular-season game. He was cut by the Calgary Stampeders but landed on his feet with acting and wrestling. His connection to the CFL played a large part in these new conversations.

As of right now, this won’t impact the NFL in terms of how the game is played and how the league is operating. However, this does mean there’s another pool of talent teams like the 49ers can go fishing in.

San Francisco isn’t widely known to sign players from other leagues. The 49ers signed a few CFL players last season and didn’t sign any from the XFL. But this isn’t to say they won’t be sending scouts to a CFL/XFL game. Although the Niners did have success landing some players from the now-defunct Alliance of American Football, namely offensive lineman Daniel Brunskill.

The CFL has proven in recent years they’re a league worthy of attention from fans south of the border. The 49ers signed offensive lineman Dakoda Shepley who played with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He was able to come into a couple of games down the stretch but should get more reps as he gets more comfortable with the American rules.

Given head coach Kyle Shanahan’s appreciation of dynamic players, he could have a field day with all the talent about to rise. The XFL showed their talents with no-movement kickoffs with a kickoff returned for a touchdown:

It was almost like a Shanahan jet-sweep from the line of scrimmage using receiver Deebo Samuel.

With this potential partnership, the CFL will undoubtedly have to step-up their game. The league is extremely talented in its own right, but when the XFL has strange kickoffs and rules which truly highlight players’ skills, it’ll be up to the players to rise to the occasion.

This will help the 49ers find the right players to help lead them to the promised land.

The news between the CFL and XFL truly came out of nowhere. It should be a huge positive for the game of football to include players from not only North America but the rest of the world.

The 49ers will certainly be interested in this development and we could be seeing some new talent in the Bay Area real soon.