What Chance Does Trey Sermon Have at Being a Contributor in 2022?
In this story:
Trey Sermon is looking for a major bounce back sophomore season for the 49ers.
What started out as a training camp filled with promise ended up turning into fool's gold last year. Sermon could not find his footing in the offense despite a plethora of chances in camp and the preseason. Injuries ended up factoring into his porous rookie season as well. Sermon will look to rewrite his first year as a pro this season, but that’s going to be immensely difficult to become a key contributor.
The 49ers drafted another running back in the third-round in Tyrion Davis-Price. Not to mention Jeff Wilson Jr. is an adept running back in a rotation and fills in nicely. Sermon has his work cut out for him. He’s going to have to take the lead over Davis-Price, which won’t be easy, if he wants to see the field on offense this year. Otherwise, he’s going to need to step up as a special teams player.
So what chance does Sermon have at being a contributor in 2022?
I’ll actually give him a decent chance. If I’m putting a percentage on it, I would give with a 25 percent chance. For starters, his best chance at finding significant playing time is filling in for Elijah Mitchell or any of the other running backs.
This was the same way Sermon found all of his usage last year. He got the start against the Packers with Mitchell and others out. That’s where he’ll find himself to get the best chance to be a key contributor. And if he shows out, then that’ll get Shanahan thinking about featuring Sermon more. Right now, he’s already got Shanahan thinking of him and how he’s looked improved.
“Watching him in OTAs and he was as yoked up as he could be,” said Shanahan at his press conference on Tuesday. “He was in as shape as he could be. Like you could tell the guy learned from his rookie year and wants to do a lot more. And so that's the starting of it.”
The real “starting of it” for Sermon will come when someone gets hurt. At least a couple of running backs will sustain an injury and miss time given the history of the position with the 49ers since 2017.
Another factor is if Davis-Price struggles. He could very well just be a guy who’s there as a brute rotational piece with little impact. That is where Sermon can also make his mark to stand out. And perhaps, lastly, Sermon can be the third-down pass catching running back that JaMycal Hasty was last year. He did look solid as a receiver out of the backfield in camp last year, so maybe he was able to hone in on that to add increased value and impact.
Either way, Sermon will get his first opportunity when the pads come on in training camp. That is where Shanahan is looking forward to see how improved Sermon is and if he’s ready to be a key contributor he can call upon.
“I can't wait ‘til we get the pads on and to watch him and a number of the other guys play."
