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How Kyle Juszczyk Will Help the 49ers Offense this Year

The 49ers offense is evolving. Eventually, it probably won't have a fullback anymore. But the evolution will be slow and gradual.
Grant Cohn|
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk (44) talks with running back Christian McCaffrey (23) on the sideline during the second quarter against the New York Jets at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk (44) talks with running back Christian McCaffrey (23) on the sideline during the second quarter against the New York Jets at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images | David Gonzales-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

There are a couple reasons the 49ers re-signed Kyle Juszczyk four days after they released him.

The first reason is financial. The 49ers wanted to save some money, so they cut Juszcyzk to let the market determine just how much he's worth. And the Steelers seemed interested in him. So the 49ers offered Juszczyk a two-year deal that's extremely similar to the one the 49ers terminated earlier this offseason. Which means they didn't actually save much money.

The second reason the 49ers re-signed Juszczyk has to do with Kyle Shanahan's offensive scheme. For the past few years, he has designed it around Christian McCaffrey, who can a wide variety of run concepts. And lots of those concepts depend on a fullback to make a key block at the point of attack.

As long as McCaffrey is on the team, Juszczyk will be as well. Because the 49ers won't find a better fullback to execute the blocks that McCaffrey needs. And that's because there are roughly seven fullbacks in the world. I'm exaggerating, but you get the point.

If McCaffrey gets injured and the starting running back becomes Isaac Guerendo, the running game won't be nearly as complex. Mostly, he'll run outside zone to the left and outside zone to the right. For those runs, a fullback isn't required. Instead, the 49ers can use two tight ends and be just as effective running the ball. That's why they signed backup tight end Luke Farrell to a three-year, $20.25 deal this offseason.

The 49ers offense is evolving. Eventually, it probably won't have a fullback anymore. But the evolution will be slow and gradual.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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