San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is apparently a huge fan of Jerick McKinnon. The second-year head coach believes McKinnon will be a good type of issue for his team moving forward.

“There’s so many things I liked about him, just visualizing how I would use him and the stuff that we would do,” Shanahan said, via the Sacramento Bee. “Even though there wasn’t a ton of it, you’ve still got to see him do some stuff that we do a lot. And whenever he did, he excelled a ton and looked very good at it.”

“What is a huge bonus on him is when you talk about the pass game. “When it comes to separating and beating linebackers and safeties in man-to-man coverage, I definitely think he’s an issue for teams. I think this league, when it comes to third downs and things like that, you move the chains based off of matchups, which allows you to get points in the long run.”

A former third-round NFL Draft pick by the Vikings back in 2013, McKinnon, 25, signed a four-year, $30 million agreement with the 49ers.He will likely replace Carlos Hyde as the featured back for San Francisco.

That contract seemed a bit generous considering he has yet to even come close to eclipsing over 1,000 yards in a season. To be fair to him, his career high in carries came in 2016, when the back toted the rock only 159 times for 539 yards. At the same time, his career yards per carry average is 4.0.

McKinnon ran for 570 yards and caught 51 passes for 421 yards last season. Shanahan is clearly a believer in McKinnon's ability to be a threat both on the ground and in the air. The Niners head coach has experience unleashing his running backs' true potential (as the Falcons' Devonta Freeman can attest), and McKinnon has the chance to be his next beneficiary.