The San Francisco 49ers running back situation has been a mess this year. Jerick McKinnon was supposed to step in and play a big role, but an injury ended his season before it started. Matt Breida was expected to step up, and they added Alfred Morris to handle some of the ground work.

Breida has been effective, ranking top-10 among backs in Rushing NEP per carry (min. 25 carries), but injuries have plagued him, and he did not practice on Wednesday due to an ankle injury. Morris has not been effective, ranking 42nd among the 59 backs in that sample.

With injuries and ineffectiveness abound, the Niners called on Raheem Mostert to step into an expanded role in recent weeks, and he has fared quite well.

The first game in which he saw serious run was forgettable, as he turned five carries and one target into nine yards yards, but his next game saw him post 87 yards on 12 carries, which he followed up with 78 yards on 7 carries and 4 targets.

Breida was playing in both of those games, too, which means that a 10-12 opportunity (rush attempts plus targets) workload is probably closer to Mostert's floor than his ceiling at this point.

That's enough to put him in play if you're hurting at running back this week, while the expanded work he stands to receive if Breida can't go would make him well worth seeking out to slot into your starting lineup.