Carolina Panthers wide receiver Curtis Samuel (10) Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
It’s not hard to look around the SF 49ers roster and see how head coach Kyle Shanahan is straying from the prototypical position-based teams that have become the norm during the modern football era.
Case in point, Shanahan doesn’t deploy the standard X, Y and Z receivers in their usual format. Even looking at specific players, there are wide receivers who act as running backs (Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk should come to mind), fullbacks who do everything, pass-catching running backs and other wide receivers who have a tight end-like build but play like a running back with the ball in their hands.