When KNBR's Larry Krueger joined the 49ers Webzone No Huddle Podcast this week, he joined Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee – soon to be of The Athletic – as the only three-time guests of the show. Earlier in the week, Barrows had a conversation with Krueger, along with Gary Radnich, on KNBR and said San Francisco 49ers running back Jerick McKinnon might be a good fantasy football pickup this season.
"If they get 750 rushing yards out of Jerick McKinnon, I think that they would love it because they're expecting to get at least that much in the passing game from him," Barrows said. "That's the real asset that he brings. That jumped out during the spring practices. Inside linebackers, where there was Reuben Foster, who's very good in coverage, or Malcolm Smith, one of the faster linebackers in the league, they all had trouble covering Jerick McKinnon."
Krueger is also a big fan of McKinnon and, like Barrows, feels fans should consider the running back on their fantasy football rosters. The 49ers signed McKinnon in March to replace Carlos Hyde as the featured back in head coach Kyle Shanahan's offense.
"I think McKinnon is going to be a fantasy superstar," Krueger told Al Sacco and Zain Naqvi this week. "I could easily envision games where he has three receptions for 85 yards and two touchdowns.
"First of all, you have the combination of everything that you're looking for to get big plays out of the backfield. You've got a quarterback who's very smart, who can hit guys in stride. You have an offense that really wants to utilize the running back as a receiving threat. And then you have arguably the preeminent receiving running back in the game whose got big-time home run hitter ability as far as the ability to make big chunk yardage plays in the pass game. He, I think, is going to put up big, big numbers in this offense as a receiver.
"My big question with him is if you have a 10-point lead and it's the fourth quarter, and you're looking to ice the game, can you run him between the tackles? Can he stay healthy? Can he be effective and can you win the game with him?
"To me, if there's one piece that I would like to see added to this team between now and Week 1, it would be another back to go with (Matt) Breida and McKinnon, who I think are going to be ideal in the outside-zone scheme, ideal as receivers. It would be nice if they had a 220-pound back who they could run between the tackles and depend on to hold the ball."
Krueger went on to discuss second-year running back Joe Williams, who will fight for a roster spot in training camp.
"Now, Joe Williams is a bigger back, but his fumbling is a real concern," he continued. "Guys who fumble in college tend to fumble in the pros. He fumbled an awful lot in college. That, I think, is a major concern. I think the coaching staff has a very short leash on Joe Williams because of his weakness of putting the ball on the carpet. You just can't do that in the NFL.
"He's big, he's strong, he's fast. Can he break tackles? Does he love football? And can he hold onto the football? If those are all positive answers, then maybe the 49ers are going to be even better than I thought. But I really would love it if they had one more 215- to 225-pound running back."
You can listen to the latest No Huddle Podcast episode with Krueger below, from our dedicated podcast page, on iTunes, Google Play, or SoundCloud.
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