Preview
Last year, the backfield situation looked pretty straight forward, with the 49ers bringing in Jerick McKinnon on a 4yr, $30 million contract to be the guy getting the bulk of the carries, but that all went out the window as McKinnon tore his ACL before the season started. Since then, San Fransisco had a 1000 yard rushing back immerge in Matt Breida as well as bringing in Tevin Coleman, who has flashed with Kyle Shanahan back in their Atlanta days. All of this creates the most tangled up backfield in the NFL and one that we need to keep an eye on in training camp.
Tevin Coleman
Coleman is now reunited with his old coach in Kyle Shanahan where, back in Atlanta, he was the pass catching back to Devonta Freeman in 2015 and 2016. Coleman was brought in on a 2yr, $8.5 million contract after having the Falcon’s backfield mostly to himself, but disappointed fantasy owners in 2018 and now sees himself sharing a back field with McKinnon and Breida. If either have healthy issues come up, which 2018 showed that it can happen to both, Coleman’s value goes up significantly. Even in a timeshare, which Coleman has shown that he has performed well in, having 11 TDs in 2016, it’s hard to see San Francisco bringing him in and not using him. Although McKinnon has the same body type as Coleman, McKinnon is better at pass catching than Coleman, but Coleman is better at in between the tackles than McKinnon. This makes it seem that Coleman will own the early down work while McKinnon gets third down. Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area says that Coleman is “clear favorite” to get the most touches. With that being said, the back field snap split might be 40/30/20 between Coleman, McKinnon, and Breida making him a safe flex option during the season.
Projections (Fantasypros)
Rush: 175/Rush YDs:805/Rush TD:5.5/Rec:26/Rec YDs:245/Rec TD:1/Fumbles:1.2
Jerick McKinnon
McKinnion a year ago was coming off signing a 4yr, $30 million deal that only players who would be a teams feature back would get. The excitement followed McKinnon as he was being drafted in the 2nd round of 2018 fantasy drafts, but tore his ACL before the season started. One year later, Matt Breida has rushed for a 1000-yard season and they bring in Tevin Coleman, who is very familiar with Kyle Shanahan’s offense. McKinnon’s hype seems to be only coming from his contract he signed last year, but the 49er’s brought him back making his base salary of $3.7 million guaranteed when they could have cut him since he had no more guaranteed money before the 2019 season. This tells us he will be involved in the back field, but no longer will be a projected feature back. McKinnon’s pass catching skills will compliment Tevin Coleman’s rushing abilities during the season, but we will see how McKinnon looks in Training Camp and how much Shanahan eases him back into the offense.
Projections (Fantasypros)
Rush:110/Rush YDs: 460/Rush TD: 2.5/Rec:44/Rec YDs:348/Rec TD: 1.7/Fumbles: 1
Matt Breida
Matt Breida came into the 2018 season as the guy to give Jerick McKinnon breaks, but that all quickly changed. After McKinnon’s injury, Breida had his shot at becoming the lead back and took full advantage with 5.3 ypc, as well as rushing for 1075 yards and 5 scores while sharing time with Alfred Morris. Breida also battled injuries all season, which was to be expected as San Francisco used him as their early down back when he’s more built towards the third down role. Unfortunately for him, 2019 is going to be a different story as Tevin Coleman now enters the locker room and McKinnon will become healthy once again. Breida’s value relies on the health of the two guy previously mention, but for now he’s looking like the third man out in the last year of his contract.
Projections
Rush: 75/Rush YDs:336/Rush TD:1.5/Rec:10/Rec YDs:92/Rec TD:0.8/Fumbles:0.3
Overview
The Backfield touches seem to be more of a 45/35/20 split on paper. If during training camp or pre season, we see more of 45/45/10 or 50/40/10, that would give this back field more value, but it seems inevitable that this three headed monster will be a time share all season as all three backs have pass catching skills, but frames are too small to carry all the work load. Coleman could be the most fantasy relevant guy in the Bay Area if he gets Goal Line work, with McKinnon being a PPR bench piece with some upside and Breida being a valuable waiver wire add/bench stash if something were to happen to either Coleman or McKinnon.
Matt FF Bradley 