Could Ran Carthon view Tyjae Spears in a role similar to Christian McCaffrey or an inverse Deebo Samuel?
The 49ers have shown to have a type over the past few seasons and that type being athletes that can operate well in open space regardless of position. I truly believe Ran doesn’t look at this roster and go well Derrick Henry is RB1 and Burks is WR1. He looks at it more like Chig is a weapon, Spears is a weapon and how do we scheme these players into space to let them do what they do best?
This position-less concept has allowed San Frans offense to be a staple year in and year out as one of the most feared in the league regardless of lacking a top tier Quarterback.
Last season CMC had over 100 snaps lined up as a receiver and Samuel lining up an average of 7 snaps per game in the backfield.
On paper when looking at players like these two, and even Brandon Aiyuk, Tyjae is very similar if not better than all 3 based on athletic testing.
With the departure of Todd Downing and Matt LaFleur’s offensive system and the addition Tim Kelly’s Erhardt-Perkins terminology. This should allow for more uptempo and freedom to take advantages of mismatches and be a nightmare for opposition when operated correctly.
While I see Henry still seeing a vast majority of snaps and touches. Tim Kelly’s job is to scheme Spears onto the field through creativity. I anticipate Spears being utilized out wide, in the slot, in the backfield and used in lots of motion, blending them all together keeping defenses on their heels at all times.
I don’t know about you but Spears might be the player I’m looking forward to the most this season just based on the mystery and controversy of his utilization.