Shanahan can find no replacement for key running back McKinnon

Kyle Shanahan hasn’t been an NFL head coach long enough to learn all the appropriate clichés.  Whenever a star player is put on crutches, “Next man up” is the mantra.

Bill Belichick, who like him or not — most do not — is undoubtedly the ultimate football coach of his generation, and I wish I had a dollar for every time he’s said, “I’m not here to talk about people who aren’t here.”

So when Jerick McKinnon, lead running back for the San Francisco 49ers, was disabled by a torn ACL, I expected to hear how the team appreciates Jerick and wishes him the best and shares his disappointment at losing an opportunity to play in the splendid glassy palace in front of family and friends where he played last season.  

But hey, as Coach Bill would say, on to Minnesota.  

Next man up is Matt Breida. 

Or is it Alfred Morris?  

When Shanahan, who’s in his second season as head coach of the Niners, addressed the subject of McKinnon’s injury to Bay Area media, there was not a hint of false hope in his voice.

“Since the day we signed him, we’ve been game-planning for Minnesota,” he said, referring to his team’s season opener Sunday (Noon CST) at the US Bank.  

“So I’m not going to lie, it changes things pretty drastically . . . changes formations and everything.”

You remember when Carson Wentz was thought to be destiny’s child, MVP to be?  And then he was stricken down by the same disability as McKinnon.

So what did Doug Pederson do?  He quickly edited his playbook, told Nick Foles to do his job.  The Eagles won the Super Bowl.  You remember that?

This is not that.

This is Shanahan hanging his head because, in all honesty – and he’s a man of character who has to be honest – he doesn’t have a replacement for McKinnon who’s as fast as he is or can catch the ball half as well.

Alas, Breida fumbled once last season, which was unforgivable given his second-string status.  And he dropped five passes.  He may be the worst third-down back in the league because he’s almost useless as a blocker, at 5-9, 190 pounds.  McKinnon is 5-9 but broadly shouldered 215. 

Imagine Breida trying to pick up a blitz by the 6-5, 255-pound Anthony Barr.  I suspect that’s what Shanahan is imagining, his worst nightmare.   He thought of Breida as a good enough second-down back but nothing more.

As for Morris, 5-10, 220, he gives the coach and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo more serenity, but along with that, less explosiveness.  Morris at 29 is in twilight for a running back.  He was an ideal backup for Ezekiel Elliott, as long as it was in a relief role, not as a starter.  He could finish off an opponent that’s wobbly in the fourth quarter.

But the Shanahan offense requires an all-purpose running back – a simultaneous threat to bull up the middle or swing out of the backfield for a pass, or even to swing farther upfield.  Last year McKinnon had a 58-yard run in Chicago and a 41-yard pass reception against Cincinnati. 

His versatility, though little used by Mike Zimmer in Minnesota, made him instrumental to Shanahan and worth a $30 million contract.  Shanahan wants playmakers at all skilled positions.  Even his fullback, Kyle Juszczyk, is a red-zone threat.   And from farther out. 

What’s hard to believe is that Shanahan and the 49ers general manager, the highly respected John Lynch, would not have a better No. 2 back — an Alfred Blue or Rex Burkhead or Chris Ivory.  Are these types so scarce? 

Shanahan could be steeped in envy Sunday as he watches Dalvin Cook’s backup, Latavius Murray, batter the heart of his defensive front.

We’re always hearing how plentiful running backs are, multiple good ones from the third and fourth rounds.  McKinnon, for example, third round out of Georgia Southern in 2014, Blue a six-rounder from LSU, Murray also a six.  

But in this long limbo before the next draft, Lynch and Shanahan can do nothing but read the waiver wires.  Sadly for them, this is not a buyer’s market.