Running back Carlos Hyde enters the final year of his rookie contract as a player with loads of potential.
Hyde’s season ended in late-December just 12 yards shy of the 1,000-yard mark. His knee injury did not require surgery and is not expected to have any impact on his offseason training for the 2017 season.
The man who coached him in his first three NFL seasons told CSNBayArea.com he believes Hyde is making progress as an all-around player after entering the league as a second-round draft pick in 2014 from Ohio State.
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“He’s moving in the right direction,” said Tom Rathman, who will not return to the 49ers’ coaching staff. “He still has some growing to do as a football player to get to the level of player that everybody wants to be. He’s got the capability of doing it. He’s a work in progress.”
Hyde appears to be in capable hands with new running backs coach Bobby Turner. In 22 seasons of being an NFL assistant, Turner’s backs have produced 1,000-yard seasons 16 times.
Turner spent 15 seasons on Mike Shanahan’s staff with the Denver Broncos. During that time, Shanahan’s run game produced eight of the top 11 single-season rushers in Broncos history with six different running backs rushing for more than 1,000 yards.
Hall of Fame running back Terrell Davis rushed for 2,008 yards in 1998 – the fifth-most in a single season in NFL history.
San Francisco 49ers
Turner has worked as running backs coach for five of the past six seasons under Kyle Shanahan, Mike's son and the 49ers new head coach.
Kyle Shanahan was offensive coordinator for five years with Turner as a top assistant in Washington and Atlanta. All five seasons produced 1,000-yard rushers: Alfred Morris (Washington, three times) and Devonta Freeman (Atlanta, twice).
Turner told CSNBayArea.com at the Super Bowl in Houston the philosophies of Mike and Kyle Shanahan are not exact.
“It’s similar, but every coach and every person has his own stamp,” Turner said. “The bottom line, everyone says it’s the zone principle. But what is the zone? There’s outside zone, inside zone. There’s a stretch. You can have different coaches who work together have different philosophies. Overall, yeah, it’s the same, but Kyle has his own stamp.”