49ers news: RB Jerick McKinnon may see a lot of passes thrown his way

The San Francisco 49ers are hoping to take it to another level next season, and newcomer Jerick McKinnon is expected to play a sizable role not only as a threat out of the backfield but also as a receiver.

One of the early moves this offseason in NFL free agency was the San Francisco 49ers signing of former Minnesota Vikings running back Jerick McKinnon on four-year, $30 million deal.

It has immediately put him in place to receive a considerable role in the offense with a chance to secure a massive workload out of the backfield. A significant chunk of this appears that it will come by way of the passing game as a receiver out of the backfield as Matt Barrows of The Fresno Bee noted that McKinnon has already been heavily involved in drills catching passes from starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in OTAs.

The most prolific receiver on Tuesday was actually a running back. Jerick McKinnon caught several passes out of the backfield from Jimmy Garoppolo, one in which he beat the middle linebacker and had plenty of open field in front of him. That was a major departure from this time last year when Carlos Hyde, who had scant background as pass catcher, struggled in that role. The versatile McKinnon, by contrast, looked very comfortable. The over/under on his catches for the season might be 73, the highest number that Devonta Freeman caught when Shanahan was coaching him with the Falcons.

Through his first few seasons in the league, the 26-year-old has demonstrated to be a versatile offensive factor that can be an effective option both as a runner and receiver out of the backfield when given a chance to do so. He is coming off arguably his best season in the league as he posted a career-high 570 rushing yards with three touchdowns while posting career bests with 51 catches for 421 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

Much of this came out of the way of him playing a secondary role in the backfield behind Latavius Murray after promising rookie running back Dalvin Cook went down with torn ACL early in the season. The fact that the 49ers don't necessarily have a plethora of deep, dependable talent at wide receiver at this moment should see a great dependency on McKinnon.

What this may signal more than anything else is that he should be in line to have an opportunity to put together a breakout campaign in 2018.