49ers Distributed 'Fly Kits,' Sleep Plans to Players for Australia Flight, Full Details Revealed

The San Francisco 49ers tried to leave no stone unturned to prepare their players for the long flight to Australia for the 2026 season opener.

The MMQB's Albert Breer documented the Niners' journey and reported members of the team received "fly kits" as they boarded their plane. The packet included sleep supplements and "a detailed schedule on when to take them to help reset each player's circadian rhythm."

Staffers also suggested following one of two rest strategies. Players could stay awake for a few hours and then sleep in one big chunk or sleep for a few hours at a time with a break in between.

"We tried to stay up until it was like 4 or 5 a.m. our time," fullback Kyle Juszczyk told Breer. "And we were all exhausted at that point, so it was pretty easy to fall asleep. And with the different things they gave us, like the melatonin, I was actually able to stay asleep for a good 9–10 hours. Then I woke up, I had like an hour left, ate breakfast, and had this circadian reset supplement with pomegranate extract in it or something.

"I took that and had a lot of caffeine."

Juszczyk also estimated he needed "about three days" to shake off all of the jet lag from the trip. That left him with plenty of time to mentally and physically recover before San Francisco played the Los Angeles Rams.

As NFL fans are well aware by now, the Rams took the exact opposite approach. They touched down in Australia as close as realistically possible before the game.

The Niners came away a 27-7 winner, leading more people to wonder whether L.A. outsmarted itself.

The Athletic's Mike Sando interviewed sports scientists who "said the Rams were spot-on in their handling of the sleep component, but they risked players feeling heavy-legged because it takes time for fluid buildup in the legs to dissipate following such a long flight."

That was all the more notable because Rams star Myles Garrett suffered a knee injury that landed him on injured reserve.

The NFL will be returning to Australia at some point, though no future game is confirmed. When that happens, the teams making the trek are likely to follow the blueprint laid out by the 49ers.