The 49ers will give running back Jerick McKinnon another shot on a new deal. The two sides agreed to a contract restructure according to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco.
Terms of the restructure aren’t yet known, but it should alleviate some of the $8.5 million cap hit McKinnon was scheduled for in 2020.
McKinnon was supposed to be a huge piece of the 49ers’ offense when they signed him to a four-year, $30 million deal with $18 million guaranteed before the 2018 season. He suffered a torn ACL the week before the season that year, and had a setback with that injury in 2019 that put him out for the year.
It’s going to be risky to try and bring McKinnon into the backfield coming off the two knee injuries, so restructuring his deal eliminates some of that financial risk. The team was initially scheduled to take a $4 million dead cap hit with a $4.5 million in savings.
McKinnon will compete for time alongside Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr. Tevin Coleman is still on the roster for now, and Matt Breida is a restricted free agent.
If McKinnon winds up being the focal point of the offense he was supposed to be in 2018, he’ll give the 49ers a dynamic receiving element out of the backfield that they’ve been missing the last couple seasons. If he doesn’t, the restructured deal will likely allow them to get out from under the contract at a lower cost than it would’ve been to release him outright on his previous contract.
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