The 49ers’ initial 53-man roster isn’t due until 1:00pm Pacific Time on Tuesday. Figuring out which running backs to keep will be among the most difficult of the number of decisions the coaching staff will have to make between Thursday night’s preseason finale in Houston and Tuesday’s cut deadline. Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Friday in a conference call didn’t give any hints as to what direction the team will go, but he did offer strong praise for second-year RB Trey Sermon.
San Francisco’s RB battle didn’t get many opportunities to settle itself during their final preseason bout in Houston. Their offensive line got torched and the 49ers managed just 51 yards on 24 carries. A 12-yard dash from Sermon was their longest run of the day. Despite a poor showing in the third preseason game, Shanahan said he still likes what the team has in its RB room.
Going into the Texans game it looked like Sermon might be the odd man out in a group of six that would go as many as five deep on the active roster. He looked okay against Houston, but it’s hard to glean anything from a back when they’re regularly getting hit in the backfield. General manager John Lynch on Amazon Prime’s broadcast said Sermon has been one of their best players in training camp. Shanahan reiterated Friday that the team feels it can rely on the 2021 third-round pick.
“They didn’t have much opportunities and much room,” Shanahan said. “I thought he had a real good play on a, I think it was a third-and-one or second-and-one where we had an unblocked guy in the hole that he made miss and almost made a big play when nothing was there. But Trey’s come a long way here this year. And he’s someone we can count on and it’s not just him, it’s the whole group. So all these guys I think are good enough to help us. We just have to figure out which direction we’re going to go.”
The head coach isn’t going to openly drag any player, so perhaps this is just coach-speak while the staff figures out their plan for the backfield. It could also be Shanahan trying to pump up the RB’s trade value.
On the other hand, most roster spots are won in practice, and Sermon received strong reviews from his practice performances. If the 49ers feel like he can be effective in blitz pickup and perhaps add some receiving ability, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see them keep the third-round pick over an undrafted free agent like rookie Jordan Mason or 2021 UDFA JaMycal Hasty.
If Sermon is with the club though, he’ll need to continue improving and start translating his practice success to games. Or else he might find himself on the wrong side of a roster crunch this time inn 2023.
