49ers Face Difficult Cut Decisions at Running Back

Today by 1 p.m. PST, the San Francisco 49ers have to trim the roster down to 53 players.

Today by 1 p.m. PST, the San Francisco 49ers have to trim the roster down to 53 players.

One position that creates a challenge for them is running back. The 49ers face difficult cut decisions there. They are loaded at the position. Each player has shown to be more than a capable talent in training camp and in the preseason. In a perfect world, the 49ers would be happy to retain all the talent, but the reality is that one quality running back is going to be cut.

“It's real challenging," said Kyle Shanahan. "Every guy that you guys have seen out there has ran like an NFL back. And those guys have done a great job. They've been great people throughout the whole thing. I know they're all pulling for each other too. They're definitely making our job harder.”

Raheem Mostert and Trey Sermon are clearly going to make the team. The question marks are the players that follow after them including Jeff Wilson Jr. Elijah Mitchell could very well be a practice squad player, but there could be a risk of him getting poached by another team. 

The same can definitely be said with JaMycal Hasty who is, to me, the second best running back the 49ers have. He is not a player the 49ers can afford to cut and hope he lands on the practice squad. They didn't do it last year, so they certainly can't now that he is much improved. That leaves Wayne Gallman, but I believe Shanahan wants that experienced veteran out there who is similar to Wilson. 

To be honest, I think the best bet for the 49ers, and this sounds crazy, is to try to keep all of these players. What are the odds Mostert can actually be healthy this season? He is an injury prone player. Lets just call a spade a spade with him. Depth is needed at running back for Shanahan, especially since he loves to shuffle his players in a rotation. In 2019, the 49ers trotted out Matt Breida, Tevin Coleman, and Mostert. Each had a nice third of the season where they looked amazing. 

This should be replicated in 2021 as an effective and dominating running game is the key for the offense. No matter who is the starting quarterback between Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance, both will need a strong ground attack to enhance their abilities. 

Either way, if the 49ers retain all the running backs, it means they have to forfeit a spot elsewhere and that probably isn't going to happen. This is truly a difficult decision that Shanahan and his staff face. For his sake, he needs to make the right one because he cannot let quality talent slip through.