Shanahan Loves Jerick McKinnon’s Work Ethic

Jerick McKinnon was a very good running back for the Minnesota Vikings, but hardly an elite one.Yet 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan believes McKinnon can be great in San Francisco's offense, and the team went after him hard in free agency, signing him to a rich, four-year deal.Now that McKinnon will be wearing 49ers colors, Shanahan says he was excited by what he saw when McKinnon was a Viking. McKinnon was a gifted receiver, route runner, ball-carrier and blocker. Shanahan sees him as a matchup nightmare for linebackers in the short passing game."There's so many things I liked about him, just visualizing how I would use him and the stuff we would do," Shanahan told Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee. "Even though there wasn't a ton of it, you've still got to see him do some stuff that we do a lot. And whenever he did, he excelled a ton and looked very good at it."Shanahan expects to employ McKinnon as a big part of his passing game. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo excels with his accuracy in the short passing zones and McKinnon's speed could help turn short catches into long gains."What is a huge bonus on him is when you talk about the pass game," Shanahan said. "When it comes to...