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Why Tevin Coleman Better Watch his Back in Training Camp

No one on the 49ers has more to lose in training camp than running back Tevin Coleman.
Grant Cohn|
Why Tevin Coleman Better Watch his Back in Training Camp
Why Tevin Coleman Better Watch his Back in Training Camp

No one on the 49ers has more to lose in training camp than running back Tevin Coleman.

Coleman currently is the 13th-most expensive player on the 49ers in 2020. He will cost the 49ers $4.868 million this upcoming season -- more than Kwon Alexander, Weston Richburg, Jimmie Ward, K’Waun Williams, Raheem Mostert, Jerick McKinnon and George Kittle.

Coleman isn’t outrageously expensive, but he is the 49ers’ highest-paid running back. They have Mostert, who’s better than Coleman. And they have McKinnon who’s better than Coleman when healthy.

Meaning Coleman might be the third-best running back on the 49ers. He averaged merely 4 yards per carry last season -- below the NFL average of 4.3 yards per carry.

Unless he improves and legitimately wins the starting job during training camp, the 49ers could ask him to take a pay cut. And he might accept one. But if he refuses, the 49ers could trade him and create $2.868 million in salary-cap space, then use that money to sign free agent tight end Jordan Reed or free agent tight end Delanie Walker.

And Coleman wouldn’t be difficult to replace. The 49ers don’t need to spend nearly $5 million per season for a measly 4 yards per carry. One of their undrafted rookie running backs -- JaMycal Hasty or Salvon Ahmed -- probably can average more yards per carry than Coleman for a fraction of the price. Remember, Matt Breida averaged 4.4 yards per carry for the 49ers as an undrafted rookie in 2017. Young, unknown running backs have succeeded in this offense before.

So when training camp begins, Coleman better come to play.

The above video clip is courtesy of Niners All Day. To check out their YouTube channel, click here.

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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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