SANTA CLARA -- Running back Alfred Morris started every game in his first four NFL seasons. The past two years, he was primarily a backup with the Dallas Cowboys.
This summer, he is merely trying to win a job on the 49ers’ regular-season roster.
The 49ers signed Morris last week, and he immediately began competing after joining the team during their week in Houston. In his first two practices, he started to get re-acclimated to playing football after being on the free-agent market since the end of last season.
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“One person would kind of clip my leg and I’d fall,” Morris said on the 49ers Insider Podcast of his first 49ers practices. "I don’t go down like that. That’s not me. That’s not the type of runner I am.”
Morris, 29, has taken 1,262 handoffs in his NFL career and he’s gained 5,503 (4.4 average) and 32 touchdowns. The bulk of his production came in his first and second seasons with Kyle Shanahan as Washington’s offensive coordinator.
Jerick McKinnon and Matt Breida are the 49ers’ top two running backs. Both players are nursing injuries but are expected to be ready for the start of the regular season. McKinnon sustained a calf injury last week. Breida experienced a separated shoulder in the 49ers’ first exhibition game.
Reunited with Shanahan and running backs coach Bobby Turner, Morris has a legitimate chance to win a roster spot as 49ers' No. 3 back. Second-year player Joe Williams sustained a fractured rib in the team’s game Saturday against the Houston Texans.
San Francisco 49ers
“I’m not going to say I’m guaranteed a spot because I’m not,” Morris said. “There’s a lot of talent in this running back room. What’s guaranteed is an opportunity. What I do with that opportunity is on me. Whether I make it a great opportunity or I spoil this opportunity, it’s on me. But I can live with that.
“They’re giving me the opportunity to at least go earn a spot on this 53-man roster. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here.”