Ty Davis-Price has impressed his coaches this offseason. The San Francisco 49ers running back had a relatively quiet rookie season last year, rushing for only 99 yards on 34 carries through his 70 total offensive snaps. It wasn't the production some expected from the third-round draft pick.
A year later, he finds himself further down the depth chart thanks to last season's addition of Christian McCaffrey. The 49ers also have a lot of confidence in Elijah Mitchell and Jordan Mason.
Davis-Price has forced the team to take notice, though.
"It's all coming together for him," offensive line and run game coordinator Chris Foerster said on Friday while praising the second-year back.
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Kyle Shanahan has also taken notice. After Sunday's practice, the head coach was asked about the strides the young running back has made in his second offseason.
"I think he's taken a huge jump since last year," Shanahan told reporters. "I mean, just the conditioning that he put in, in phase one and two, what he did these 40 days away, just how good he was the first day we saw him in terms of his stamina, how he's running, understanding the offense, what we want out of him more."
"I thought he had a great OTAs, and he's come back, and he's even having a better training camp."
After the draft, Shanahan seemed excited about what Davis-Price might do in his offense, leading most to think the running back would carve out a more significant role with the team. What went wrong? Shanahan admits that Davis-Price may have been "swimming a little bit" (the words used by the reporter asking the question) in his first NFL season.
"Lots of guys are when they get in," Shanahan explained. "Just a different style, what we ask out of our guys. And it took him a little bit of time. He was going to get an opportunity, though, early (last season), especially when Elijah got hurt, but he got that high-ankle sprain in Week 2. And then [he] was out a month and just fell behind."
