Sports digest: NFL studying face guard that works like surgical mask; Cal names softball coach

With an eye toward getting back on the field during the coronavirus pandemic, the NFL is working on a helmet face guard that might provide the same sort of protection as a surgical mask.

“A lot of players have played with a clear shield to protect their eyes,” Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay, who heads up the league’s competition committee, said Tuesday during a video conference call. “This would be extended even further.”

Thom Mayer, the medical director of the NFL Players Association, said league engineers and sports equipment company Oakley are testing prototypes of a modified face mask that might contain surgical or N95 material.

Work on the face mask is far enough along that “there will probably be a recommendation” to use it when the league begins its preseason schedule in August, according to Mayer.

• Aldon Smith will be able to take part in team activities with the Dallas Cowboys after the NFL conditionally reinstated the troubled former 49ers and Raiders pass rusher from an indefinite suspension.

Smith, who hasn’t played in an NFL game since 2015, will be able to participate in the Cowboys’ virtual offseason program starting next week. He can also meet with teammates and coaches. Dallas signed him to a one-year deal April 2.

Smith was drafted seventh overall by San Francisco in 2011 and was an All-Pro in 2012 when the 49ers reached the Super Bowl.

Smith had several legal issues as a player with San Francisco and Oakland. He was first suspended with the 49ers in 2014 before receiving a one-year ban in November 2015 with the Raiders.

Oakland retained Smith’s contractual rights before releasing him in 2018 after San Francisco police issued a warrant for his arrest in a domestic violence case.

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