San Francisco 49ers: Predicting 5 surprises for the 53-man roster in 2020

No. 5: Running Back Jerick McKinnon — KEEP

One of the most frustrating players of the last couple of years has been running back Jerick McKinnon.

In 2018, the team signed him to a four-year, $30 million deal with $18 million guaranteed. Unfortunately, only days before the start of the season, he tore his ACL and was put on injured reserve. Kyle Shanahan wasn’t shy to admit losing Mckinnon basically changed his entire playbook that year.

There was renewed optimism to start the 2019 season for McKinnon, but unfortunately, disaster struck again as it was reported his knee flared up and he would need another procedure.

This would force him to miss all of the 2019 season.

Entering the 2020 offseason, McKinnon and the 49ers restructured his contract which helped secure his shot to remain with the team. And from the looks of it, McKinnon has taken this offseason very seriously and looks ready to play. The trade of fellow running back Matt Breida to the Miami Dolphins and Shanahan’s previous comments in 2018 about McKinnon’s importance to the offense gives a lot of faith he will make this roster and produce for the team, particularly with some strong impressions in training camp already.