Earlier in the week, the San Francisco 49ers, ball carrier Raheem Mostert, requested a trade-off that caught us off guard. Mostert had recently signed a contract but wants to be paid and paid as the best ball carrier on the team and rightly so. No matter what is going on with Raheem, the 49ers have a few roles they need to understand the position.
Ben Linsey of PFF thinks there is a three-way battle between Mostert, Tevin Coleman and Jerick McKinnon. Through PFF, Mostert forced 17 missed tackles from 53 playoff races while averaging four meters after contact by attempt. These are figures that look like video games. If he’s part of the team, it’s Mostert. Linsey argued that the small sample size makes it difficult to pay Mostert a large contract, and he is right.
If Mostert is gone, does that mean Coleman returns to RB1? When I watched Coleman in Atlanta, he was an effective receiver out of the back field. For some reason, we didn’t see that in 2019 from Coleman, who saw more than 35 targets for each of the previous seasons for the Falcons. As a runner, and it sounds difficult, but I thought Mostert, Matt Breida and even Jeff Wilson were more effective on the field. Coleman has less than normal vision and has left many meters on the ground. I know he has a history with Kyle Shanahan, but the 2019 man, apart from a few good games where the line has worked hard, has been disappointing for Coleman.
Linsey thinks McKinnon is the group’s joker. In 2017, McKinnon was the sixth best PFF runner with a rating of 79.6 in limited action. His health has been an issue, and we need to see if McKinnon still has the same explosiveness before consecutive late season injuries. Talent is far from an issue, and that’s why the 49ers gave McKinnon the contract they made.
Here’s Linsey’s last word:
The verdict: If he’s still on the team, Mostert is the leader. Coleman is next in line if Mostert is traded, but McKinnon will push him to take pictures
The shift in workload to Mostert at the end of the 2019 season and throughout the post-season should continue in 2020 if the parties settle their disagreements, and he remains on the team. By the PFF category and numbers such as rushing yards and forced missed tackles, he was one of the best runners in the NFL last season. PFF’s fantastic screenings consider him one of the most undervalued backs of the NFL. Obviously, everything comes out of the window if it is moved.
In this scenario, Coleman makes sense to replace the Mostert early, but I think McKinnon plays a role in this backfield. The 49ers kept him despite his injuries, giving them every reason to separate, and the last time McKinnon was on the field in 2017, he was legitimately good. Mostert’s situation will be monitored before the 2020 season.
Some questions I have in mind during the season:
Can Mostert handle an increased workload?
Is this the year we can see McKinnon and Shanahan?
Will one of the undamaged free agent’s running backs emerge?
Will San Francisco regret having traded Matt Breida?
