Photo courtesy of the San Francisco 49ers
Many are eager to see running back
Jerick McKinnon take the field for the San Francisco 49ers this season. That includes fans, coaches, and teammates.
Maybe not the Arizona Cardinals.
One of McKinnon's teammates who can't wait to see the running back finally step back onto the football field is
Raheem Mostert. Mostert has been with the 49ers during the entire Kyle Shanahan era and remembers what McKinnon was supposed to bring to the offense when the team signed him in 2018.
An ACL injury has prevented McKinnon from taking a regular-season snap with the 49ers, but that may change on Sunday. Mostert joined 95.7 The Game on Wednesday and discussed what McKinnon brings to Shanahan's offense.
"He adds a lot. He's very versatile coming out of the backfield, making plays," Mostert told Damon Bruce, Ray Ratto, and Matt Kolsky. "You can line him up at slot. His pass-catching is unbelievable, route-running. He works on those types of things, but then he's also transitioned to being a smooth runner.
"I remember the first year he got here; he knew the routes. He knew the route trees for the receivers and running backs, and he's perfecting that. But he didn't really have a full grasp as a runner."
Position coach Bobby Turner has been helping McKinnon to become an even better and more punishing running back. It must be paying off because there were training camp reports of
McKinnon embarrassing defenders during practices.
"I think, this year, he's definitely taken that role of being more of an elusive runner just to mix up the pace of the game," Mostert continued.
That could make an already deep group of running backs even more dangerous for opposing defenses. We'll see if that is true on Sunday when the 49ers host the Cardinals at Levi's Stadium.
In addition to Mostert and McKinnon, the 49ers also have
Tevin Coleman and
Jeff Wilson available to line up in the backfield.
McKinnon added: "There's three or four different guys -- even with Jeff Wilson -- there's four different guys in that backfield that can make something happen. You've just got to wait and see what we do. It's going to be exciting."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Mostert below.
The San Francisco 49ers placed running back JaMycal Hasty (broken collarbone) and safety Johnathan Cyprien (hamstring) on injured reserve today. The team also placed safety Jared Mayden on the practice squad injured reserve list due to a quad strain.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with reporters via Zoom this afternoon and provided several additional injury updates on players who did not play on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints.
The 49ers hope to get the following players back in time for the team's Week 12 matchup against the Los Angeles Rams, giving San Francisco a boost down the stretch:
RB Tevin Coleman (knee)
LB
Starting next week, there will be many eyes on practice reports searching for information on several San Francisco 49ers players' statuses. Head coach Kyle Shanahan sounds optimistic that reinforcements for his injury-ravaged roster are on the way.
Cornerback Richard Sherman (calf), wide receiver Deebo Samuel (hamstring), and running backs Raheem Mostert (ankle) and Tevin Coleman (knee) all have a good chance of returning to the lineup after the bye week, in time for the team's Week 12 road matchup against the Los Angeles Rams.
Shanahan also hopes it will be in time, and enough of a boost, for his 49ers to go on a bit of a run through the final six regular-season games. Despite the 4-6 record and sitting in last place within the NFC West standings, San Francisco
The San Francisco 49ers could be getting several players back in time for Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Rams. Head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters that the team plans to activate cornerback Richard Sherman and running backs Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson off of injured reserve this weekend.
"We'll get them on the roster tomorrow by 1 (p.m. PT)," Shanahan said. "They got better each day. Yesterday, we had to do a bunch of walkthrough stuff because of some of the circumstances, the guys we lost. So, we didn't get to go totally full-speed, and same thing today."
Sherman has been on injured reserve since September 16 due to a calf injury. Mostert landed on IR with a high-ankle sprain on October 24. Wilson later suffered the same injury as Mostert and
