SANTA CLARA — It’s the cruelest yet well-traveled intersection inside NFL locker rooms: a star player gets hurt, then his replacements offer respectful condolences as they charge ahead at increased roles.
Labor Day at the 49ers complex saw running back Jerick McKinnon admirably cope with Saturday’s season-ending, anterior-cruciate-ligament tear to his right knee. More on that exemplary display of courage later in this story.
The most pressing matter, in the NFL’s cruel world, is determining his successor.
Not long after McKinnon bravely spoke in positive tones on crutches at his locker, Matt Breida and Alfred Morris took turns answering reporters’ questions and complimenting each other, and they did so on opposite sides of the locker room.