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Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Maybe San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan should be very flattered.
Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay was recently asked on The HelliePod how he hopes to address his team's running back situation now that his former featured back, Todd Gurley, is in Atlanta. He hopes to take a page out of his close friend and division rival's book.
San Francisco had three running backs that rushed for over 500 yards last season, contributing to the league's No. 2 ranked rushing attack. Only the Baltimore Ravens, benefiting from the legs of quarterback Lamar Jackson, gained more rushing yards than the 49ers' 2,305.
The Rams rushing attack ranked No. 26 in the NFL with 1,499 yards and were swept by Shanahan's 49ers last season.
While Raheem Mostert emerged as the 49ers' best back by the end of the season and into the postseason, Shanahan also relied heavily on both Matt Breida and Tevin Coleman. Both Mostert and Coleman had 137 carries each while Breida had 123.
McVay wants to follow the same strategy in Los Angeles, at least to start, hoping that featured back eventually emerges.
"I think it will naturally just work itself out," McVay told Dan Hellie. "You look at that success San Fran had last year with that running back-by-committee approach, and what I thought Kyle and really their players did a great job of is, 'Hey, we're going to have an open-mind approach, we're going to be committed to trying to have some balance, and then we'll go with the hot hand or whoever really expresses himself as deserving of the carries.'
"We feel good. We've got three guys really on our roster that have played football when you look at Darrell Henderson, John Kelly's another guy, (and) Malcolm Brown has consistently produced really in that number two role behind Todd. And (rookie) Cam Akers is a guy that we're excited about.
"So we've got four backs that we feel are all NFL legitimate real starting-caliber backs."
The 49ers and Rams are scheduled to meet in Santa Clara on October 18 and then in Los Angeles on November 29.
Brock Purdy hopes Kyle Shanahan makes addition to 49ers playbook
By David Bonilla
Apr 16
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy threw for a franchise-record 4,280 yards last season, leading the team to the Super Bowl and earning his first Pro Bowl selection. He held onto the football 39 times on the ground, rushing for 144 yards and scoring twice. This marked a significant improvement over his rookie 2022 campaign when he had 22 carries for 13 yards and a score.
Purdy further displayed his athleticism during the 49ers' playoff game against the Detroit Lions last season, helping engineer a comeback victory while rushing for 48 yards on five carries.
On Tuesday morning, Purdy joined the "Pat McAfee Show," acknowledging that he believes he can contribute more rushing yards if called upon. However, that decision rests with head coach Kyle Shanahan,
49ers continue to express pre-draft interest in dual-threat running back
By David Bonilla
Apr 17
Austin Jones, the running back who spent three seasons with Stanford and the past two with USC, was among the 44 players in attendance at the San Francisco 49ers local pro day on April 10. Justin Melo of The Draft Network reports that the Bay Area team is keeping tabs on the Pac-12 standout.
After attending #Raiders, #49ers and
Brock Purdy hopes to organize throwing session ahead of 49ers training camp
By David Bonilla
Apr 16
The San Francisco 49ers will hold a mandatory minicamp from June 4 through 6, officially concluding the team's offseason program. After that, the Niners will break for over a month and return to the Santa Clara facilities for training camp in late July.
Between that time, starting quarterbacks will often organize throwing sessions with their receivers in an effort to build chemistry ahead of the rigors of training camp. 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy has been unable to participate in such sessions over the last two years. The last overall draft pick in 2022, Purdy had yet to make a name for himself during his first offseason. Last year, he was still recovering from offseason surgery on his throwing arm.
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Breaking down the 49ers drafts under John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan
By Marc Adams
Apr 20
We are less than one week away from the NFL Draft, and the San Francisco 49ers have their first day-one draft pick since 2021. That was the year they selected QB Trey Lance number three overall. The trade-up to get Lance cost the 49ers their first-round picks in 2022 and 2023. And now that they are back in the first round, at pick 31, fans are anxious to see what the team does with the pick. And with former assistant GM, Adam Peters, now in Washington, it will be interesting to see how well the 49ers draft without Peters in the room.
We looked back at the seven drafts GM John Lynch and Head Coach Kyle Shanahan have led to see what information we could pull from those drafts. There were plenty of hits, plenty of misses, and a few surprises along the way. The draft picks are
