Legendary Shanahan RB factory might be saving its best performance for pivotal game vs. Rams

The 49ers season is on life support entering Thursday’s divisional clash vs. the Rams. They need to run the table to make the playoffs. So who do they turn to at running back? Christian McCaffrey? No. Elijah Mitchell? No. Jordan Mason? No. Isaac Guerendo? Maybe. For now he’s planning to play through a minor foot sprain suffered in Sunday’s win over the Bears.

In a season where the 49ers have been ravaged by more injuries than any team in recent memory, no position has been hit harder than running back, where it’s possible Patrick Taylor Jr. or Guerendo could have a big game.

Taylor Jr., an undrafted running back with 311 rushing yards under his belt across 43 games, was released from the 49ers practice squad last month. A month later, who knows, the fifth stringer could play a big role in keeping the 49ers’ slim playoff hopes alive.

Whoever gets the call, whether it is Guerendo or Taylor, could be the latest player to write his story in the phenomenon that is the Shanahan family running back factory. 

Depending on how old you are, at some point you’ve probably witnessed (insert name) running back with a wild game for Kyle Shanahan, or his dad, two-time Super Bowl-winning head coach, Mike Shanahan.

Sure, Terrell Davis and Christian McCaffrey need no introduction. But, names like Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson, Tatum Bell, Mike Bell, Reuben Droughns and Selvin Young all had their moment in the spotlight for Mike in the early 2000s. Decades later, guys like Matt Breida, Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson Jr. and Jordan Mason have had their 15 seconds of fame for Kyle. 

In the Disney movie ‘Ratatouille’ the famous chef Gusteau is known for his saying that “anyone can cook”. The same is true for any running back playing under the Shanahan’s. Kyle and Mike rank one-two among head coaches in terms of yards per rush by running backs in the last two decades. Truly, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

There’s been 28 different 100-yard rushers between them, all the way from Marcus Allen to Jordan Mason. That’s more than the entire Cowboys franchise has (25) in their 65-year history. The 49ers have had nine under Kyle. Only the Ravens have more since 2017. 

Mike’s running back carousel is nothing short of historic. Twenty different players had a 100-yard rushing game with Mike, tied with Don Shula for the most by a head coach ever (Alfred Morris had a 100-yard rushing game for both Kyle and Mike if you’re wondering). 

100 rush yards in a game for Kyle or Mike Shanahan

Mike coached seven different single-season 1,000-yard rushers, tied with Jeff Fisher for tops in that department. None of the seven (Terrell Davis, Clinton Portis, Alfred Morris, Mike Anderson, Reuben Droughns, Tatum Bell, Olandis Gary) were a first-round pick. 

They’ve rarely relied on the same guy over the years as Clinton Portis and Christian McCaffrey are the only players to lead a Shanahan team in rushing yards in back-to-back seasons since 2003.

So what’s the secret? How have the Shanahan’s exemplified the next man up mentality better than anyone at this position. Is it the famous zone-blocking scheme? A specific type of running back? That’s certainly part of it, but when CBS Sports talked to Mike Shanahan earlier this week the sentiment that kept coming up in our conversation was culture. 

“He (Kyle) believes you have to have a good run game to be successful, I think that’s where it starts, where you have 11 people that are committed to having a great running game. There’s only one way you have a great running game, where everyone is involved, including wide receivers and the tight end.”

Nobody was exempt from Mike Shanahan’s desire for complete buy-in, not even superstar running back Clinton Portis, who was traded for future Hall-of-Fame cornerback Champ Bailey following back-to-back seasons with 1,500 rush yards to start his career. 

“I told Clinton at the time, this is why I’m doing it and I hope you understand, he just wanted to be home in Miami and not be a part of our offseason program. The reason I tell you this, because you really need to have guys that understand if you’re going to be part of this team, if we’re going to run the football, we need to have everyone involved, not just eight or nine guys.”

One thing you’ve probably noticed watching any 49ers game in recent years is how physical they are, including blocking by the wide receivers and tight ends. That’s not by accident. 

“Oh we had the best, Rod Smith and Ed McCaffrey, they took as much pride in blocking as catching the football,” Mike said. “They dominated people. And once other players start seeing this is the concept, they buy in, and if they don’t buy in, they are usually gone. It was the same in San Francisco with John Taylor, Jerry Rice and Brent Jones. I was there in that 1994 season and we dominated every game. I was surprised how much pride they took in blocking.”

The beauty of it is, the Shanahan running back factory really began where it will continue on Thursday night, in San Francisco. Mike learned a lot in three years as the 49ers offensive coordinator from 1992-94. 

“At that time I went back and looked at all the games statistically and went ‘holy cow, they won four Super Bowls in nine years and I’ve been to three, and been embarrassed in all three’. We weren’t very good running teams. During playoff time these teams play physical and if you don’t have a good running game and put all the pressure on your quarterback, like we did with John Elway, chances are you’re going to get blown out in those Super Bowls.”

Mike took that commitment to the run back to Denver where he won Super Bowls in 1997 and 1998. That culture, the zone-blocking scheme, creativity and physicality have all created story-after-story of legendary performances from relative unknowns that Patrick Taylor (or Guerendo) can add to on Thursday.

In case you are wondering where Terrell Davis and Christian McCaffrey are on the below list, it’s reserved for the unsung hero-type games. 

Legendary Shanahan running back performances

December 10, 1995: The Glyn Milburn game 

The first pioneer in the Shanahan running back factory is none other than Glyn Milburn. You may have never heard the name Glyn, let alone Glyn Milburn, but consider yourself informed. 

Late in the 1995 season Milburn left his mark after Terrell Davis exited the game. He racked up an NFL single-game record 404 all-purpose yards (131 rush, 45 rec, 133 kick return, 95 punt return). It was such an incredible performance the Pro Football Hall of Fame has a page dedicated to it. 

Mike Shanahan appreciated what he brought to the table. “Glyn Milburn wasn’t very big, but he was very talented. When you’re running that zone scheme, you needed a guy with that type of speed and quickness, to hit the right angles. We saw the ability as a returner and running back. We had the right scheme and hat-on-hat Glyn could make a lot of big plays”.

Milburn’s performance epitomizes Shanahan’s history of anonymous running back production. He racked up 131 rush yards that game. He never had a game above 54 rush yards outside of that in his entire career.  

December 19-25, 1999: Olandis Gary’s Christmas gift

Terrell Davis tore his ACL early in the 1999 season opening the door for rookie fourth-round pick Olandis Gary. He had back-to-back games with totals of 183 and 185 rush yards. The latter was on Christmas and was the last 100-yard rushing game of his career. 

November 19-December 10, 2000: Mike Anderson’s video game numbers

Olandis Gary passed the baton to rookie sixth-round pick Mike Anderson in 2000. Anderson was “strong” as Shanahan put it. In his first two career games he rattled off 131 rush yards and 187 rush yards.

Later in the year, he went for 195, 251 (a franchise record) and 131. That’s 577 rush yards and eight touchdown runs in three games! He’s still the only player since the merger with 550 rush yards and eight touchdown runs in a three-game span. This is Mike Anderson we are talking about. Not Walter Payton. If you were lucky enough to enjoy Anderson’s 105.6 fantasy points in that stretch, congratulations!

And just remember this for when they ask at trivia. Who are the three rookies since the merger with back-to-back 175-yard rushing games? Eric Dickerson. Olandis Gary. Mike Anderson. Unreal. 

September 12, 2004: Quentin Griffin drops 156

Remember Quentin Griffin? Neither do I. Shanahan and co. responded to the Clinton Portis trade in predictable fashion. In the first game without Portis, Quentin Griffin had 156 rushing yards and three touchdowns. He had more rush yards in that season opener (156) than the rest of the year combined (155). 

October 10-17, 2004: Reuben Droughns goes off

Griffin didn’t have the spotlight for long because a month later Reuben Droughns, who was “tough as nails”, bludgeoned opposing defenses with back-to-back 175-yard rushing games. He entered that stretch with 127 career rushing yards in 44 games (sounds a lot like Patrick Taylor Jr.’s resume) but would put together a surprise 1,000-yard season. 

Incredibly, only six players have had back-to-back 175-yard rushing games in the last three decades and three were for Mike Shanahan from 1999-2004 (Gary, Anderson, Droughns). 

December 12, 2010: Ryan Torain knows the terrain

Not that the tales of Tatum Bell, Selvin Young and Peyton Hillis weren’t exciting, but let’s fast forward to Mike’s Washington days where Ryan Torain made a cameo with a career-high 172 rush yards in Week 14 vs. the Buccaneers. 

Like a lot of players on this list, the performance came out of nowhere and was late in the year providing plenty of drama down the fantasy season. 

November 6, 2011: Hello from Helu

Rookie Roy Helu caught a franchise-record 14 passes for 105 yards in his first career start in 2011. 

December 24, 2011-January 1, 2012: Evan Royster rolls

Rookie sixth-round pick got his shot late in the 2011 season with back-to-back 100-yard rushing games, the only times he went over 50 rush yards in his career. 

January 19, 2020 (2019 NFC Championship): Colonel Mostert’s charge

Kyle Shanahan truly put his stamp on the family running back tradition when undrafted veteran Raheem Mostert ran for 220 yards and four touchdowns in a blowout win over the Packers in the 2019 NFC Championship game. He is the only player with 200 rush yards and four touchdown runs in a game in NFL postseason history. 

Not bad for a guy with eight carries in his first three seasons. Unlike most of the players on this list, Mostert would also go one to have success at another stop when he tallied 21 touchdowns last season in Miami. 

December 26, 2020: Wilson!!!

The following season Jeff Wilson Jr. joined the list of unheralded, undrafted rushers to thrive with the Shanahan family. He racked up 183 rushing yards the day after Christmas vs. the Cardinals. 

September 9, 2024: Jordan goes to the ground

Jordan Mason continued the tradition in 2024 by stealing the spotlight in Aaron Rodgers’ return from his Achilles injury. Mason went for 147 rushing yards in his first career start following Christian McCaffrey’s own Achilles injury. Mason had 536 rush yards in the first five games this year after entering the season with 466 career rush yards.

December 8, 2024: Isaac Guerendo’s cameo

McCaffrey and Mason went on IR last week which opened the door for rookie Isaac Guerendo. In typical fashion, he had 128 scrimmage yards, two touchdowns, a foot sprain, and a partridge and a pear tree in his first career start.

That’s a dozen ridiculous performances so nobody should be surprised if Guerendo adds to this on Thursday, or Patrick Taylor goes off if he leaves the game early.

“I’ve watched Patrick in all the practices, all the way through camp and with the scout team,” Mike explained. “He’s got a lot of ability. He’s one of the few guys that has the ability to cut and has speed as well.”

I hope you didn’t wait for those dozen examples or Mike’s endorsement to run the waiver wire and spend the rest of your FAAB on Taylor Jr. There’s more evidence to support the potential for a big game by either back:

• 49ers running backs collectively average 26.8 fantasy points per game under Kyle Shanahan, third-most in the league since 2017.
• Individually, that number is 17.5 in games with 15+ touches, including 15.3 when you’re not named Christian McCaffrey.
• This year’s fill-ins, Jordan Mason and Isaac Guerendo, averaged 14.9 fantasy PPG in seven starts. That’s even watered down by two games where Mason left early with an injury. 
• And best of all, the seven running backs to make their first career start under Kyle Shanahan averaged 18.3 fantasy points. Four of the seven went over 20 points including Mason and Guerendo this year.

First career start by running back under Kyle Shanahan

102 running backs have had 20+ fantasy points in their first career start in the last three decades. 10 percent of them have been for Mike or Kyle Shanahan. If there’s one position where you can go deep down the depth chart to find production, it’s certainly running back. Yet, it’s still astounding what the Shanahan’s have done with the position, and right away, given the opportunity to flex their muscles.

The standout games in first career starts for Mike also include 167 scrimmage yards by Andre Hall, a three-touchdown game for Tatum Bell and 120 scrimmage yards by Selvin Young. 

Notable performances in first career start under Mike/Kyle Shanahan

“He’s going to expect to have 100 yards, I can promise you that,” Mike said of Taylor. “Players around him who watch him practice everyday, they’ll be surprised if he doesn’t have a lot of success”.

That’s what I’m expecting from any 49ers running back on Thursday.