49ers 2020 predictions: Team MVP, most improved and more

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Jerick McKinnon, San Francisco 49ers (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images) /

49ers Comeback Player

There is really only one player to consider for this award, and it’s a man who has yet to suit up for the 49ers for a meaningful contract. And that player is running back Jerick McKinnon.

By now the story is well and often told. McKinnon was one of the general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan’s key free-agent signings back in 2018, and the former Minnesota Vikings tailback looked set to become a dynamic piece of Shanahan’s offense.

Then he tore his ACL the week before the 2018 regular-season opener and after myriad setbacks, ended up missing two full seasons of football.

But the running back has an updated contract and with Matt Breida now in Miami with the Dolphins, looks to build his case for carries and snaps in the backfield over players like Tevin Coleman, Jeff Wilson and a few undrafted free-agent rookies.

His best asset, of course, is that he’s far and away the best pass receiver out of the group and was essentially used as a third-down receiving back in Minnesota. In four seasons, he posted PFF receiving grades of 68.4, 73.9, 67.6 and 83.6 on 894 passing snaps (370 came in his last season).

That means McKinnon is the most useful player in the 49ers backfield, no matter how many times fellow rusher Raheem Mostert runs for 200-plus yards.

If McKinnon can expand on the touches he had in Minnesota and make good on what Shanahan and Lynch saw in him three years ago, he’ll be the runaway winner of this award.