The 49ers’ turmoil beneath heart has overshadowed an excellent roster the final couple of seasons. They’ve quietly improved their secondary and receiving corps, whereas revamping their working again room and including to their already sturdy defensive position and linebacker corps.
A fast have a look at their roster would establish the entrance seven, the D-line and linebackers, as maybe their strongest place group. The parents at Soccer Outsiders would disagree. They listed the 49ers’ RBs as their prime place group, and it’s form of troublesome to discern how.
Right here’s what Soccer Outsiders wrote on the RBs:
Though Deebo Samuel received’t be taking handoffs as typically this fall, the 49ers nonetheless have their prime 4 true working backs from final season — younger guys Elijah Mitchell and Trey Sermon, plus veterans Jeff Wilson and JaMycal Hasty.
In addition they drafted Tyrion Davis-Worth out of LSU within the third spherical of the draft in April. Fullback Kyle Juszczyk, a wonderful run-blocker, can also be a harmful receiver out of the backfield.
Samuel’s title comes up earlier than any RB does following his excellence working in on the place final yr. He did that partially as a result of head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t assume there was a greater possibility on the roster.
Mitchell became a workhorse again in contrast to any the 49ers have had throughout Shanahan’s tenure and Wilson’s enjoying time dwindled to zero if Mitchell was wholesome. Hasty was an unspectacular third-down again, and Sermon couldn’t get any work on offense when he was wholesome.
San Francisco chosen Davis-Worth in Spherical 3 this yr, marking the second yr in a row they spent a Day 2 decide on a working again. He’s an unknown that might elevate this group’s total productiveness, however he hasn’t even gotten into camp but.
Juszczyk is without doubt one of the 49ers’ greatest gamers so it is sensible that he’d assist buoy the RBs rank. Nevertheless, there’s simply not sufficient certainty or depth to comfortably name it the workforce’s greatest place group.
The parameters for his or her alternative concerned taking prime expertise and depth under consideration. Whereas Mitchell and Juszczyk are superb, the depth behind Mitchell at RB is unsure at greatest.
On the defensive position Nick Bosa and Arik Armstead prepared the ground. Samson Ebukam got here on sturdy to shut final season, and the 49ers spent a second-round decide on USC DE Drake Jackson. In addition they returned 2020 sack chief Kerry Hyder, and signed former Colts DE Kemoko Turay this offseason. Former first-round decide Javon Kinlaw is coming back from a knee harm as nicely.
One degree again is a really sturdy group of linebackers, spearheaded by Fred Warner who could be the most effective off-ball LB within the NFL. Dre Greenlaw and Azeez Al-Shaair have each confirmed to be efficient three-down LBs, whereas Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles has acquitted himself nicely in minimal enjoying time. The 49ers additionally added former Packers LB and particular groups standout Oren Burks this offseason.
Whereas these two positions would possibly stand out above RB for now, the 49ers would love for his or her backfield to have the top-end success that they had with Mitchell final yr whereas seeing the likes of Davis-Worth, Wilson, Sermon and Hasty step into bigger, extra productive roles.