SF 49ers: Final bubble watch ahead of Week 1 roster cuts
By Peter Panacy
SF 49ers Running Backs
Lock: Kyle Juszczyk, Tevin Coleman, Jerick McKinnon, Raheem Mostert
Strong bubble: Jeff Wilson
Weak bubble: JaMycal Hasty*
Long shot: Josh Hokit*
Like San Francisco’s tight ends, one of the biggest questions is whether or not Kyle Shanahan elects to keep three or four halfbacks on the 53-man roster. Considering the 49ers boasted the league’s No. 2 rush offense last season and his system is a run-first offense, four seems to be the standard.
If this is the case, there’s no doubt Tevin Coleman, Raheem Mostert and Jerick McKinnon fill the first three spots, particularly with excitement surrounding McKinnon after a two-year absence on IR from a 2018 ACL tear.
The fourth and final spot, however, goes between the returning veteran, Jeff Wilson, and the undrafted rookie, JaMycal Hasty.
It’s a provocative bout. Wilson, a known commodity at the NFL level, has a tough, bruising style good for short-area gains and is an underappreciated receiving target. Hasty, with his low center of gravity, is a perfect scatback with multi-cut abilities and also offers up a skill set in the pass-catching game.
Shanahan could go with Wilson over Hasty, which would make sense. Yet the latter could easily be a tough waiver let-go, as it’ll be challenging to get him onto the practice squad.
The Niners won’t keep two fullbacks on the roster, meaning undrafted rookie Josh Hokit likely lands on the practice squad, too, potentially looking at being a long-term replacement for Kyle Juszczyk, who is scheduled to hit free agency in 2021.