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Jerick McKinnon evolving his game to have a bigger impact for 49ers, says Raheem Mostert
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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.
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