In a recent deep dive on the value of NFL running backs by Dan Pompei of The Athletic, it was revealed that 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan reportedly liked running back Christian McCaffrey so much coming out of Stanford in 2017 that the team heavily considered taking him at No. 3 overall all in that year’s draft. That would’ve made McCaffrey the highest-drafted running back since Trent Richardson was selected third overall by the Browns in 2012.
Instead, of course, McCaffrey was selected five picks later by the Panthers. McCaffrey would immediately display his skill and versatility upon arrival in the NFL, being named a first-team All-Pro after leading the league in scrimmage yards (2,392) and touchdowns (19) in 2019. The following two years would be hampered with injury, limiting him to only 10 contests over that time, but it wouldn’t deter Shanahan from trading four draft picks for him in 2022, finally attaining the running back he so admired.
The 49ers, of course, selected McCaffrey’s college teammate, defensive end Solomon Thomas at No. 3 in 2017. Thomas failed to reach the heights of his draft stock, leading to his fifth-year option being declined. Unfortunately for Thomas, he would suffer a torn ACL two games into his contract year. Since leaving San Francisco in free agency, he has spent time with the Raiders and, his current team, the Jets.
Here are a few other rumors from around the NFC West:
- Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith in playing this season on a shiny new contract that, at the original time of reporting, boasted an amount of $30MM to be earned through incentives. According to ESPN’s Brady Henderson, that doesn’t quite appear to be accurate. The supposed “incentives” have now been revealed to be escalators, which unlike incentives, are tied to non-guaranteed bonuses. For example, an incentive would pay Smith $30MM if he were to reach certain statistical benchmarks. In reality, with the escalator, Smith would need to reach those benchmarks and still be on the team’s roster by the fifth day of the new league year in order to boost his $9.6MM roster bonus to $24.6MM. There are a number of statistical benchmarks that Smith is not on track to reach (4,282 passing yards, 30 passing touchdowns, 69.755 percent completion rate, 100.874 passer rating), but he could still cash in on team benchmarks such as a playoff berth or a 10-win season.
- When 49ers general manager John Lynch was given a multi-year extension alongside Shanahan back in September, the team executive was reportedly given an additional title, as well, to accompany the new contract, per Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports. In addition to his role as GM, Lynch will now also sport the title of president of football operations.
Seattle (as usual) got incredibly bad luck with their schedule this year. I also think with some more confidence in the run game they could’ve challenged SF for the division title.
Both Seattle and San Francisco made the same mistakes in free agency. They both added pass rushing interior DL, and as a result, they missed out on some quality run stoppers that were available.
It has proven good at times for both squads, allowing them to occasionally collapse the picket from the inside, but, more often than not, it has hurt them. While Ridgeway for the 49ers got hurt last year, when he did play, he was excellent at helping stopping the run.
Paying a high number for those interior rushers didn’t allow for either team to maintain a high level of depth along their defensive fronts, and it has shown to have been costly quite a few times this year.
Both teams are still looking for answers, but with new additions along both of their fronts, it seems both could be trending in the right direction. There’s going to be some kinks to work out, but now that the 49ers have Hargrave and Chase Young and now that Seattle has Leonard Williams and Dre’Mont Jones they’re both in better spots than they were before.
It’ll definitely be interesting to see how both teams continue to evolve in order to try and stop their opponent’s running game.
Trent Richardson, man forgot bout him