The San Francisco 49ers were a pretty good football team last year. They made it to the playoffs. They beat the Packers and they beat the Panthers only to fall to the eventual Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks. No shame in that.
But what about next year? How will the 49ers do? The big sportsbook Bovada has them listed at 15/2, along with the New England Patriots, to win Super Bowl XLIX trailing only the Seattle Seahawks at 6/1 and the Denver Broncos at 7/1.
But there is a wild card getting ready to take the field with the 49ers next year. He has been getting ready for this for a long time now and spent the past year in an intense program to rehabilitate his torn ACL which he suffered in college at South Carolina.
His name is Marcus Lattimore and he has been compared to some of the finest running backs in the history of college football. He is that good. If you have been handicapping next season’s NFL action and you didn’t figure in Lattimore, crumble it up and throw it away. He will make that much of a difference.
The powers that be at the San Francisco 49ers and coach Jim Harbaugh made a difficult, but very wise, decision last year when they told their fourth round draft pick, who was already injured, that he was to be a member of the 49ers team, but that he would be expected to sit out the 2014 season in order to fully recuperate from his knee injury. Such a deal.
The deal gave him an immediate signing bonus of over $300,000 right out of college, that must have been nice to get. The faith that the team showed in him must have been really something extra special. All in all, Lattimore’s contract is worth almost two and a half million dollars over the next 4 years.
If you have not seen Marcus Lattimore play football, you are in for a treat. He is one of those rare players who can change the tone of a game in a heartbeat. His style of running reminds us of Eric Dickerson and Gayle Sears.
When Marcus Lattimore is added to San Francisco’s already potent roster, 49er fans should be expecting to see a definite upgrade on their team. Perhaps this will be the year.
In any case, football fans across the nation will be watching Lattimore take the field with baited breath their hopes and prayers with him for a safe and successful season with the San Francisco 49ers.
