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Jeff Wilson Jr. explains why the 49ers running backs have bonded so well
Feb 19, 2020 at 10:15 AM
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The players within the San Francisco 49ers locker room mesh well with one another. The same is true within the individual position groups. That includes the running back room, which this past season consisted of Raheem Mostert, Tevin Coleman, Matt Breida, and Jeff Wilson Jr. Jerick McKinnon was there too but was on injured reserve for the second consecutive season and has not yet taken a regular-season snap with San Francisco.
Wilson sat down with Steve Wyche of NFL Network this week and,
among other topics, discussed why the running backs bonded so well with one another.
There don't seem to be any selfish players. The running backs, like other position groups, root for one another to succeed, whether it means Mostert is rushing for over 200 yards, Coleman is staring in a playoff win, or Wilson is hauling in a game-winning touchdown against the Cardinals.
"In our room, if you check, all of us have a similar background," Wilson told Wyche. "We all come from undrafted past or the past where we had to take the back road. And all that helps us because we all know what each other is going through because one person's been through it, one person's going through it, and like me, I'm just now entering into it.
"All those guys have been through the same similar situations, so we feed off each other, and I feel like that alone has helped our bond become stronger.
"And then you add guys like Tevin Coleman, Jerick McKinnon in the room; there's obviously good, high draft pick running backs. That just helps the room that much more."
As Wilson states, Coleman and McKinnon are the only 49ers running backs who entered the NFL via the draft. Neither, however, was drafted by San Francisco. The others — Wilson, Mostert, and Breida — all entered the NFL as undrafted free agents.
It is an ego-less group. While others might complain about not being the featured back in a game — you never knew who would receive the most carries from week to week — that isn't the case with the 49ers. Three running backs — Mostert, Coleman, and Breida — rushed for over 500 yards this past season, and San Francisco owned the No. 2 ranked rushing attack in the NFL, combining for 2,305 rushing yards.
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