Despite lack of depth, 49ers’ backfield ranks highly

By Danny Dabiri  |   Monday, July 16, 2007  |  Comments( 10 )

 San Francisco 49ers
The folks over at Scouts Inc. ranked the positions of each NFL team, from one to 32. The San Francisco 49ers cracked the top 10 at the running back position, ranking ninth in the league. The primary reason for the ranking is Frank Gore, who proved to be one of the best runners in the league last season, compiling an NFC-best 1,695 yards on the...
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CommentsComments: 10
 No.1
Mad Mardigan		 11:08 AM
07/16/2007
The lack of depth is a concern, but it still beats having Kevan Barlow as a starter!
 No.2
EastCoast9er		 11:42 AM
07/16/2007
While adding a proven back before the season starts sounds great to me as well we need to be realistic and look at the choices out there.

Stephen Davis and Corey Dillon are the two backs available with a good name recognition. Both are on the back end of their careers (maybe even done?) and I am not sure if either would be willing to come in as a backup/advisor role. (and does Gore need someone to teach him RB skills...or just soemone to come in and pound out a few downs when he needs a break). I am thinking that maybe closer to the season when teams are making cuts someone else may become available that will fit the bill nicely. If not then we get to find out if either the 2 we had last year or the new guy will be able to fill in the gap behind Gore.

On a more personal fan note. I am just happy we are worried about our backups...just 1-2 years ago that was the LEAST of our worries...
 No.3
Fre		 11:45 AM
07/16/2007
No doubt the Chargers are number 1, and Washington does have a potent backfield combination. Michael Bennett's best days are way behind him, but I'll concede that one as well. But I have a real problem with your ranking of the Vikings and the Jags. With regards to the Jags, Fred Taylor is old. I seriously doubt he has another season like last years in him. He's also injury prone, and it's unproven whether or not MJD can handle a full load. He's small and has started exactly 1 game in his career. As for the Vikes, Chester Taylor's 4 ypc avg is not really remarkable, and if you want to talk about unproven, I think Adrian Peterson certainly fits that criteria. Maurice Hicks doesn't have the potential Peterson does, but at least he's gained nearly 1100 yards in THE NFL over the course of his career, and in only 225 touches total with a 4.1 ypc career avg. You point to his 2.8 ypc, but he only had 29 carries. 2004 and 2005, where he had 96 and 59 carries respectively, are a much better indicator of his abilities, where he averaged 4.3 ypc over the course of those two seasons. One last thing, I find it preposterous that you fail to even mention New Orleans in this article. I would argue that with the exception of San Diego they have the best backfield in the league.
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