San Francisco 49ers: What to make of Matt Breida’s lack of use in 2020

San Francisco 49ers running back Matt Breida figured to be a big part of the team’s plans in 2019, yet he seemingly fell out of favor late in the season. Why?

There were plenty of reasons to expect Matt Breida would be the San Francisco 49ers‘ starting running back for the vast majority of 2019 and eventually into the playoffs. After all, Breida averaged 5.3 yards per carry the year before, which was fourth best among qualifiers, and he was also 2018’s fastest player — a feat he achieved again in 2019.

Granted, the Niners had a stacked running back room heading into the regular season. The free-agent addition of Tevin Coleman, combined with the ascent of former special teams ace Raheem Mostert in the second half, cut into any would-be carries Breida could have received.

But that doesn’t entirely explain the almost-complete lack of use for Breida down the stretch and into the playoffs.

Just check out the game splits and numbers over the course of the season:

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/12/2020.

Breida started the 49ers’ divisional-round matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, yet only received eight carries. In the NFC Championship round against the Green Bay Packers, when Mostert and the ground game ran rampant over the Packers, Breida touched the ball just once and had only two offensive snaps.

Why?

Following San Francisco’s win over the Los Angeles Rams in Week 16, head coach Kyle Shanahan tried to clarify why Breida didn’t even get an offensive snap.

“We didn’t go in not planning for him to not have any plays on offense. It just worked out that way,” Shanahan said of Breida, via NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco. “Went through a little bit of a lull in the third quarter where we had a number of 3-and-outs, so it was tough to sub him in. We didn’t have any long drives. The runs that the other two guys did get, they were being effective. It was nothing against Matt. Just unfortunate how the game worked out for him.”

Yet the Niners ended up having some long drives in the postseason, particularly against the Vikings, yet Breida saw relatively little action.

Some may wonder if ball security was an issue. Breida did, after all, fumble twice over the course of the year. But so did Mostert, and he was one of Shanahan’s primary X-factors down the stretch en route to the Super Bowl.

Mostert getting the bulk of carries in the playoffs makes sense. He was, after all, red hot on the offensive side of the ball, and Shanahan hasn’t shied away from going with the hot hand.

Yet Coleman, aside from a red-hot performance against the Vikings in the playoffs, wasn’t much of a factor in many of the other late-season games. But Shanahan still elected to give the veteran far more touches than the younger counterpart.

One could have thought Shanahan was keeping Breida, who has a small-but-notable injury history, fresh for the playoffs. Only this idea was tossed aside due to Coleman having a hot hand versus Minnesota, followed by Mostert’s breakout game against Green Bay.

Perhaps. Yet Breida has had his share of breakout games, too, and his lack of use down the stretch and into the postseason is an interesting nugget as the 49ers prepare for a challenging offseason.

Maybe the Niners hope to feature Breida in a more prominent role this upcoming year. Or, possibly, Shanahan has his eyes on other players instead.