There are plenty of challenges that come with opening a season nearly 8,000 miles from home. The San Francisco 49ers, set to fly Wednesday to Melbourne, Australia, ahead of their Week 1 game against the Los Angeles Rams, are learning them firsthand.
The dizzying list of complications starts with a simple one: "Do you have a passport?"
That's a question general manager John Lynch said he recently asked a potential practice squad player, as his team continues to finalize the group it will bring on a 16-hour flight this week for the Sept. 10 opener.
"There's a lot of little logistics like that that are complicated by this, but we're embracing it," Lynch said ahead of Monday afternoon's practice. "We're having a plan for everything, and we're getting it done."
A day after slicing its roster to 53, San Francisco made a flurry of additional moves. It placed defensive back Nate Hobbs and linebacker Nick Martin on injured reserve, re-signed punter Corliss Waitman and safety Ashtyn Davis one day after releasing them and added 13 of the allotted 17 players to its practice squad. Those were all calls that needed to be made faster than normal because of the impending trip.

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