Originally posted by RDB4216:
Then why was Deebo playing RB so much??
It's obvious why Deebo was playing RB: because 1) he was damn good at it 2) it creates a personnel matchup nightmare for the defense, and Kyle is all about creating mismatches. Kyle and Deebo kept DCs up all night because it's incredibly difficult to counter the 49ers' offense when they come out in
what appears to be a pass-heavy personnel package(a lot of times packages that
appeared like the 49ers had no RB on the field), and then suddenly Deebo turns into a RB. If the defense comes out in nickel--or worse: dime package--and Deebo motions into the backfield, now Kyle is forcing mainly DBs to tackle Deebo in the 2nd level. And DBs don't want to tackle Deebo. Go back and rewatch all of the Deebo's runs out of the backfield. There were countless plays where Deebo gets into the 2nd level, and DBs let him run right by them because they were literally terrified to square him up.
Kyle always planned to use a WR with the ability to handle a few carries as a RB as a wrinkle out of the backfield. Deebo just happens to be amazing at it, and even if Deebo is traded, I fully expect that WR -> RB wrinkle to continue moving forward albeit probably fewer reps without Deebo.
[ Edited by Heroism on Apr 27, 2022 at 11:37 PM ]