GETTY Raheem Mostert #31 of the San Francisco 49ers celebrates after winning the NFC Championship game against the Green Bay Packers at Levi's Stadium on January 19, 2020 in Santa Clara, California.
There’s still a long road to the beginning of the 2020 NFL season, but the debate over whether the San Francisco 49ers to return to the Super Bowl or not has already begun.
NFL Network’s Nate Burleson conversed with fellow analysts Peter Schrager, Kyle Brandt and Kay Adams on the NFL’s flagship channel about San Francisco’s chances to produce another run at the Lombardi Trophy after the 49ers came short against the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019.
The group addressed several different 49ers topics, but Burleson mentioned a specific group on the 49ers roster as the reason why he sees San Francisco maintaining their success: running backs.
“They kept the pieces that made them successful. I’m looking at the running backs, the running back group is one of the best in the business. While everyone is trying to figure out if they’re going to pay one guy a ton of money, they went with the Patriots model. They’re going to have a bunch of guys, running backs by committee.”
The strategy worked well for San Francisco in 2020, as now-Miami Dolphin RB Matt Breida and other rushing options Raheem Mostert, Tevin Coleman, Jeff Wilson Jr. and Kyle Juszczyk were of immense importance to the 49ers offense.
Rich Getting Richer
Burleson went on to bring up a name that didn’t make the 49ers’ stable the past two seasons, Jerick McKinnon, who has been sidelined for two straight years since signing a four-year, $30 million contract in 2018.
Word on the street is that Jet McKinnon is available. Remember the Jet McKinnon experiment? They brought him over from Minnesota and he got paid a ton of money, was supposed to be their guy. Imagine having him healthy in the same system they had last year, which seemed unstoppable at times.
While McKinnon is an unproven quantity as a 49er, Burleson’s point about how the San Francisco offense doesn’t cater to a feature back, but instead facilitates consistent production by having a fleet of different running backs.
McKinnon’s pass-catching prowess was recently highlighted by Heavy as his best trait, and, as Burleson mentions, getting those in-game touches have seen several players contribute.
“It seemed like whoever got the ball, whether it was Coleman, Jeff Wilson Jr. or even Kyle Jusczcyk, all these individuals made plays as soon as they got their opportunity. The biggest group that makes this team go is the running backs.
“I don’t see these guys having a hangover.”
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Maintaining the Core
While Burleson noted the running backs, Schrager touched on the way the 49ers have operated this offseason, especially in terms of keeping the core of the coaching staff.
“You add in a coaching staff that all comes back. Robert Saleh comes back, Kris Kocurek who does the defensive line comes back and of course, Shanahan and his million assistants whether it’s Mike LaFleur or Mike McDaniel they’re all back. I think that the Niners quietly brought back a lot of key parts and didn’t get rid of the guys that everyone thought they would have to get rid of.
Schrager’s point is one that hasn’t been a major talking point of the offseason, mostly because the 49ers have kept things quiet in terms of departures, save for defensive tackle DeForest Buckner.
Keeping guys like LaFluer and Kocurek, whose work as the 49ers passing game coordinator and defensive line coach translated to those areas excelling throughout the season, provides a crucial consistency that will help San Francisco keep momentum rather than restarting.
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Evan Reier is a sportswriter covering the San Francisco 49ers for Heavy.com and local sports for the Montana Standard in Butte, MT. Follow and reach out to him on Twitter at @evanreier.