Breaking down the 90 players on the 49ers

offseason roster in 90 posts (over 90 or so days). Today is RB Jeff Wilson Fred Warner Jersey , Jr." Roster Projections49ers 90-in-90 roster breakdown49ers 90-in-90: Running back Jeff Wilson, Jr.New,20commentsBreaking down the 90 players on the 49ers offseason roster in 90 posts (over 90 or so days). Today is RB Jeff Wilson, Jr.PDTJeff Wilson, Jr. was a star running back at two small Texas schools: Elkhart HS and North Texas University. He signed with the 49ers as a UDFA, got cut in August and ended up on the practice squad.A succession of injuries in the Niners running backs room gave him his chance in week 12, and he made the most of it, instantly beating out Alfred Morris for the Niner’s backup RB role behind the gimpy-ankled Matt Breida.Wilson racked up 266 yards in 66 carries to finish out the year, an impressive 4.0 yards per attempt. Just as importantly in Kyle Shanahan’s scheme, he was adept as a receiver out of the backfield, hauling in 12 of 15 passes for 98 yards, 8.2 YPC. In the team’s December 2 loss to Seattle, he had more receiving yards (73) than star tight end George Kittle (70), the team’s leading receiver.Basic infoAge: 23Experience: 1 accrued seasonHeight: 6’0”Weight: 194Cap StatusWilson, a UDFA in 2018, signed a 2-year, $1.05 million contract with no guaranteed money when he was promoted from the practice squad at the end of November last season. In reality, it won’t be that much; he earned a pro-rated $170,000 last year (based on the contract’s annual $480,000 rate), so the most he could make over two years is $740,000. If he makes the team and lasts all year, his salary this year will be $570,000; if he’s cut, there’s no dead money, and the 49ers keep it all. What to expect in 2019:Wilson, Jr. runs hard and is a reliable receiver. He stepped into Shanahan’s offense and picked right up where Matt Breida left, and Raheem Mostert left off, though the success of so many different running backs suggests that Shanahan (and the offensive line) deserve most of the credit and that running backs may be interchangeable (and easily replaceable).There was just one problem with Wilson’s performance last year (and also in college), but it was a big one. He fumbled in three consecutive games, losing two of them, and even had a big drop against Seattle in week 15. Shanahan was going to keep him on the bench the rest of that Seattle game as a result, but when Breida got further injured in overtime, he had no choice. WIlson Jr. came back in Solomon Thomas Jersey , held on to the ball and picked up 23 yards on three consecutive runs to set up the winning field goal.Wilson Jr. does not have the elite speed that Shanahan prefers, running a 4.57 in the 40-yard dash, which may be why he did not have any of the explosion runs that Breida (and hopefully, Jet McKinnon, and Tevin Coleman) get in this scheme. If he makes the team, we can expect more of the same — a hard-running backup RB who keeps this offense moving, with a lower ceiling than the other backs and added anxiety about holding on to the ball.Odds of making the roster:Not good. Alfred Morris is gone, but the running backs room already has Breida, Mostert, McKinnon and Coleman along with essential fullback Kyle Juszczyk. There’s no real upside to his game and a lot of bigger talents with guaranteed money.His best-case scenario is to match last year — get on the practice squad and see if injuries create a role for him. He’s facing much more talented competition, however. Saturday morning, I explained that the situation in San Francisco is more about urgency than friction. My argument would have been a little stronger if I’d known at the time that, one day earlier, 49ers G.M. John Lynch had uttered similar words.“We fully understand we’re going into Year Three,” Lynch said Friday in an appearance on 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, via the . “This is a production-based business and we have to start winning games. We feel really good about where our team is in terms of being set up to do that. We feel great about the progress we’ve made. It’s put-up time. We understand that.”The 49ers haven’t won nearly enough games during the first two years of the Kyle Shanahan-John Lynch relationship. That doesn’t mean the relationship is ending. It does mean that the relationship will perhaps be tested a little more strongly, if Year Three ends up more like Year One and Year Two and less like some of the better years the franchise has experienced. Regardless, Lynch insists that he and the head coach are still working together as they try to turn things around.“The notion we’re not working together couldn’t be further from the truth,” Lynch said. “We have a tremendous working relationship. We’re great friends off field. There’s a lot of trust. We came into this together knowing there’d be tough times and it wouldn’t be easy, but it would be worth it.”Lynch, a former player with a clear no-nonsense vibe, had a message for the faithful: “I can tell Niner fans that, hey, we’re as strong as ever and there’s a lot of trust and faith. I feel so great for this organization that they have Kyle Shanahan, a tremendous leader, tremendous mind. . . . Our players love him. I love him. We’ve got each other’s back, and that’s all I will say on that. That’s the truth, and as they say, the truth shall set you free.”The original argument that was made in support of the idea that change could be coming pushed the idea that Shanahan wants to hire his own guy to handle personnel decisions. This overlooks the reality that Lynch was Shanahan’s own guy, hired by Shanahan in large part because Shanahan’s authority over the roster would have made it much harder to hire an executive under contract with another team.Whether it’s Lynch or someone else, Shanahan will have to find a way to make it work with , unless and until he’s willing to surrender final say to a G.M. whom Shanahan essentially would be working for. That’s the truth, and it’s one of the many reasons why Shanahan isn’t setting Lynch free.