Keion White has a plan for surviving the 49ers’ marathon flight to Australia.
It involves a lot of sleep — and, at least according to the defensive lineman’s joke Tuesday, a lot of melatonin.
“I don’t know if you can OD on melatonin, but I’m gonna try,” White said. “Take 5 melatonin, go to sleep. As soon as I wake up, I’m taking 5 more.”
White was clearly being playful, but the concern behind the joke is real as San Francisco prepares for a roughly 8,000-mile journey to Melbourne for its Week 1 matchup with the Rams, the NFL’s first regular-season game in Australia.
The 49ers are scheduled to leave Santa Clara on Wednesday night and arrive Friday morning in Melbourne, giving them nearly a week to get their body clocks adjusted before kickoff.
Shanahan previously said he saw “no pro” for his team in making the journey, prompting commissioner Roger Goodell to jokingly offer him a jet-lag app while defending the league’s global push. Goodell brushed aside Shanahan’s concerns about the Australia trip earlier this year.
And NFL history suggests White isn’t alone in wondering how exactly a football player is supposed to sleep his way through international travel.
Former Eagles and Packers cornerback Rasul Douglas offered a particularly blunt review of his previous London experience in 2022: “It f—ing sucked.”
The Ravens had an even rougher experience in 2017.
Baltimore flew to London late in the week before suffering a 44-7 loss to Jacksonville. Joe Flacco later recalled that he “definitely did not feel alive during that game,” while defensive tackle Michael Pierce said his sleep schedule was “shot.”
Longtime Jaguars offensive lineman Tyler Shatley, who became one of the NFL’s most experienced London travelers, eventually concluded there wasn’t a magic solution.
“Embrace the stink,” Shatley advised players dealing with jet lag, saying different attempts to manipulate sleep before the trip never completely solved the problem.
The 49ers are at least giving themselves considerably more time to adjust than those teams did.
They’ll need it.
San Francisco’s Australia trip is only part of an unusually travel-heavy season that also includes another international game in Mexico City. The Melbourne opener itself has been one of the NFL’s showcase events since the 2026 schedule began taking shape.
White, whom the 49ers acquired from the Patriots last season, apparently has his flight itinerary figured out.
He is hoping to sleep through most of the trip. Whether those 16 hours bring dreams of beating the Rams or nightmares about Week 1 is another matter.
