Jeff Wilson’s inspiration comes from more places than one.
With over 200 all-purpose yards in the 49ers' 20-12 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday in Glendale, Ariz., it was a career day for Wilson. He carried the ball 22 times for 183 yards and caught one of his two targets for 21 yards.
Wilson’s previous record was a 17-carry, 112-yard, three-touchdown performance in the team’s Week 7 win over the New England Patriots.
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The third-year running back is normally subdued when he speaks to the media, but after his breakout performance, he stepped up to the podium with a grin that stretched from ear to ear.
Wilson praised his teammates on the offensive line and the wide receivers for doing their part in making his performance a reality.
“I could feel it, I could just feel it from the guys,” Wilson said. “I know those guys blocked their tails off for me today and I could feel it.”
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Wilson also felt the energy from C.J. Beathard, who returned to the field as a starter for the first time since 2018. Wilson believes that their struggles to work their way back into the lineup are very similar.
In his three years with the 49ers, Saturday's game only marked Wilson’s fourth start. He has appeared in 26 games but also bounced from the practice squad to the active roster along with occasionally being a healthy scratch in a crowded room of talented backs.
Beathard made his 11th start in four seasons Saturday. There were high hopes for the Iowa product who was drafted in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft but he struggled in his first season. The arrival of Jimmy Garoppolo and subsequently, Nick Mullens, has kept him off the field.
Wilson always wanted more for himself and knows that Beathard has the same mindset.
“Everybody loves C.J.,” Wilson said. “The whole team, but especially me because I feel like I personally know what he’s dealing with on the level that I’ve actually been there myself.
“To stay upbeat, to stay positive, to keep encouraging people when you’re not playing or when you’re not getting in, or when you’re not getting what you deserve, and to stay upbeat off that? That’s tremendous, and that’s why everybody loves him. That’s why people don’t mind breaking their necks for him.”
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Wilson is also motivated by something much closer to home, his namesake, Jeff Wilson III.
“I just think about my son, everything I do I think about my little boy,” Wilson said. “I’m just trying to do what I can so that way he lives a life that I didn’t get to live. I want him to live better than I did.
“Just thinking about him, waking up with him on my mind and then my teammates, seeing them in the locker room, it just all gets me going.”