Kyle Shanahan has a penchant for putting his versatile offensive players in positions they don’t typically play.
Athletic fullback Kyle Juszczyk often lines up at wide receiver, bruising tight end George Kittle routinely takes turns at fullback and wide receiver Deebo Samuel, a run-after-the-catch force, took 11 snaps at running back in last Sunday’s win at Jacksonville.
The 49ers head coach was asked this week about his influence when it comes to having players line up in non-traditional spots. And Shanahan told a story about his dad, Mike, who began making some tweaks to Bill Walsh’s West Coast Offense after he became the 49ers offensive coordinator in 1992.
Mike Shanahan didn’t mess with Walsh’s plays, but he did sometimes change which players carried out the assignments. For example, he would have do-it-all fullback Tom Rathman, a rugged blocker who led NFL running backs with 73 catches in 1989, occupy Jerry Rice’s spot at wide receiver.
“He said for a while there was a revolt because it was Jerry’s play, not Tom’s — or vice versa,” Kyle Shanahan said. “So then he had to explain that you can just change the personnel grouping.”
Those 1992 49ers might have come totally unglued if Mike Shanahan did what his son is now doing with so-called “position-less” offensive players. The 49ers have collected hybrid players during Shanahan’s tenure whose versatility allows Shanahan to change his formations and play calls while using the same personnel. When combined with pre-snap motion, it creates unpredictability — is it a run or pass? — for defenses.
Juszczyk’s unique skillset explains why he was among the new regime’s first free-agent signings in 2017, and why he’s since been the NFL’s highest-paid fullback. With Juszczyk, the 49ers are often in 21 personnel (two running backs, one tight end), which is a traditional running formation.
But Juszczyk’s presence on the field isn’t a tipoff that a run is imminent. Particularly when Juszczyk motions out of the backfield to line up at wide receiver before the snap. How can that impact the opponent? DeMeco Ryans, the 49ers defensive coordinator, says such creativity can force defenses to play vanilla schemes. In other words, it allows the 49ers’ offense to dictate the terms.
“I think the way our offense operates with (Juszczyk), Deebo, you never know where they’re going to align,” Ryans said. “And that’s the beauty of our offense and the way they scheme up plays. You don’t know where guys are going to align so as a defense you can’t do too much (schematically) because you don’t know where these guys are.”
Shanahan’s desire to collect multi-dimensional skill players explains why the 49ers used a high third-round pick in 2019 on Jalen Hurd, a running back at Tennessee who played one season at wide receiver after transferring to Baylor. The 49ers waived Hurd earlier this month because injuries had prevented him from playing in a regular-season game. With Hurd no longer on the roster, Shanahan shared what their plans had been for him when he was drafted.
“Jalen was a college running back, so we knew he could have played there,” Shanahan said. “We also thought he was going to be a tight end, eventually. Also could be a fullback and a receiver.”
Shanahan is hardly alone in prizing versatile players. But few coaches share his fervor in deploying them. Consider the 49ers’ personnel grouping on their first series in last Sunday’s win against the Jaguars, on a second-and-1 from the 2-yard line.
The 49ers were in 21 personnel, but a wide receiver (Samuel) was lined up at running back, a tight end (Kittle) was playing fullback, a wide receiver (Brandon Aiyuk) was at tight end and a running back (Jeff Wilson) and fullback (Kyle Juszcyk) were at wide receiver.
What happened? The Jaguars didn’t respond with a vanilla defense. Instead, they played almost no defense. They had five defenders grouped together, around the middle linebacker spot, just before the snap. Wilson, lined up in the left slot, leaked across the end zone, and wasn’t covered, but quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo sailed his incomplete throw.
Shanahan and Garoppolo noted they wanted to take advantage of the Jaguars playing man-to-man coverage in which defenders are assigned certain players to guard. And they added to the confusion by breaking the huddle, racing to the line and snapping on Garoppolo’s first sound.
“The rush up to the line of scrimmage, our guys were set immediately (and) it’s just hard for defenders to find their guys,” Garoppolo said. “I mean, the corner is used to the receiver being right here and now, all of a sudden, he’s lined up at fullback.”
Eric Branch covers the 49ers for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: ebranch@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Eric_Branch
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