49ers should move on from these 5 players in 2020
By Peter Panacy
No. 4: Running Back Jerick McKinnon
2020 Projected Cap Hit: $8,550,000
As is the case with Marquise Goodwin, the last two years of running back Jerick McKinnon‘s career have been disrupted by injury.
Only in McKinnon’s case, he has yet to take the field with the 49ers in a regular-season game, tearing his ACL just before Week 1 in 2018 and missing the last two seasons as a result of the arduous, complicated recovery process.
The Niners got by just fine without McKinnon’s services the last two years, owning the 13th best rushing attack in 2018 and the league’s No. 2 ranked rush offense a year ago. Running backs Matt Breida, Raheem Mostert and later Tevin Coleman largely shored up any holes left on the roster McKinnon would have otherwise filled.
Without diving too deep into the medical side of things, it’s still a legitimate question just how effective McKinnon would be after missing the last two seasons.
That question is compounded by the fact he’s due an $8.55 million cap hit in 2020, which would be offset by $4.55 million in cap savings if San Francisco elects to part ways.
Like wide receiver, there’s likely to be a bit of a logjam at running back this upcoming season, and McKinnon probably won’t be able to fit into the picture as much as he would have, had health not been a factor.
It’s probably best for both parties to move on.