Ray-Ray McCloud Explains How the 49ers Will Use Him

"The offense itself is explosive, and I'm a playmaker, I'm explosive."

Grant Cohn | Mar 22, 2022

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

Ray-Ray McCloud just had his first press conference as a member of the 49ers. Here are the highlights from his group interview.

Q: Take us through the process of the recruitment of you coming to the 49ers.

McCLOUD: It certainly wasn't the taxed that brought me here, but me and Deebo were very close before the NFL, so watching the plays he makes here, the offense being top tier and my time in the NFL watching the 49ers, Coach Shanahan's track record speaks for itself, and the plan that the organization laid out for me from special teams to offense, I thought it was a great opportunity.

Q: Being a wide receiver, did you ask for or receive any clarity on the quarterback situation, and have you made contact with Trey Lance?

McCLOUD: On the quarterback situation, I just got here, so I'm trying to acclimate myself and find a home first. That hasn't come to mind yet.

ME: How do you fit into the 49ers offense?

McCLOUD: The offense itself is explosive, and I'm a playmaker, I'm explosive. I don't think there's a more explosive offense that puts the ball in players' hands in space like the 49ers.

Q: You've had some fumbling issues in the past. What have you done to try to have better ball security? Did something click at the end of last year?

McCLOUD: It clicked for me two years ago. It's not me being careless -- it's me being an aggressive runner. But that's part of the game. You have to take care of the ball. Every year I've gotten better and better. I just have to keep getting better.

Q: Have the 49ers talked to you about running choice routes from the slot?

McCLOUD: I want to do whatever Coach asks me to, but choice routes definitely are big and I would love to be part of that.

Watch the full interview below:

Published Mar 22, 2022

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.