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Advice for 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan When He Drafts Running Backs

Please accept this small request.

Grant Cohn

Dec 8, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan walks on the field before the start of the game against the Chicago Bears at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images
Dec 8, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan walks on the field before the start of the game against the Chicago Bears at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images / Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images
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Dear Kyle Shanahan,

When you draft a running back this year -- and I assume you will draft one, considering you traded Jordan Mason to the Vikings last month and your starter is Christian McCaffrey who missed 13 games last season -- well, when you draft a running back this year, I have one small request to make.

Let running backs coach Bobby Turner make the pick.

Please don't take this personally. I'm sure you're good at scouting running backs, too. Although Ty Davis-Price, Trey Sermon and Joe Williams weren't good mid-round draft picks but maybe you weren't the one who picked them. And let's be fair, no one is perfect.

It's just that Turner is one of the greatest running backs coaches of all time and no one in the history of football has had a better eye for scouting running backs who fit a zone-blocking scheme. Period. He's the Bill Walsh of running backs. He's the one who spotted and vetted Isaac Guerendo last year and he's the one who discovered Terrell Davis once upon a time.

Turner will turn 76 years old in May. You won't have him forever. So while he's here, lean on him, Kyle. Trust his expertise. And draft whichever running back he recommends.

Because as shrewd as you are, Turner is just as shrewd. And he has much more experience than you. And he has much more time to watch all the running backs and get to know them personally than you do. You have an entire team to coach.

I know I don't have to tell you this, Kyle. Please accept this gentle reminder.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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