49ers add another running back to the active roster after losing Mostert to injury

Carolina Panthers running back Trenton Cannon warms up before a preseason NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

The 49ers lost Raheem Mostert to injury for the season yesterday and have made a number of moves the last two days to fill his spot on the roster.

The team signed Kerryon Johnson to the practice squad yesterday, and today added Trenton Cannon to the active roster when they claimed the running back off waivers from the Baltimore Ravens.

Cannon was originally drafted by the New York Jets in the sixth round of the 2018 NFL Draft. He spent his first two seasons in the NFL as a member of the New York Jets. Cannon was with the Carolina Panthers last season and signed recently with the Ravens following a number of injuries at the position.

Cannon appeared in the Ravens’ week one game at the Las Vegas Raiders, carrying the ball two times for five yards and adding a tackle on special teams. For his career he has appeared in 35 games and registered 50 carries for 151 yards and one touchdown to go along with 20 receptions for 160 yards.

In addition to running back, Cannon has been a strong special teams performer with 392 of his 631 snaps coming on special teams. He has returned 16 kickoffs in his career for 414 yards with a long of 98 yards last season as a member of the Carolina Panthers.

A 27-year-old native of Hampton, VA, Cannon attended Virginia State University from 2015 to 2017. While at Virginia State he appeared in 32 games with six starts and registered 4,035 rushing yards and 44 touchdowns to go along with 48 receptions for 610 yards and seven touchdowns.

The 49ers typically like to carry four running backs on their active roster, with only three active on game day. In a surprising move, it was second-round draft pick Trey Sermon that was the inactive player for San Francisco against Detroit. It will be interesting to see if Cannon makes the active roster over Sermon due to his abilities on special teams when they travel to Philadelphia on Sunday.

This article has 31 Comments

  1. “It will be interesting to see if Cannon makes the active roster over Sermon due to his abilities on special teams when they travel to Philadelphia on Sunday.”

    Damn! Is that even a possibility? That would be a monumental statement in the young career of Trey Sermon. At that point, you really need to consider trade options.

      1. Hahaha, 1.6. Boy, aren’t you funny making light of police officers being beat with flag poles and killed by violent extremists? Hahaha!

        FYI, it’s really NOT FUNNY at all!

  2. Jack, nice well-written article. Thanks.
    Two things:
    1. Do you know anything about Kerryon Johnson’s medical status? Is he able to play?
    2. Also, do you know if the Niners are searching for a big DT to clog the middle in case Kinlaw goes on IR?

    1. Thank you, George.

      I believe Johnson is practicing. His signing is more of an emergency type deal. Don’t expect to see him play.

      Don’t think they’re going to bring in another DT. They have a big group there and Hurst will be coming off IR in a few weeks.

  3. I was a little surprised that Kyle said on Monday Mostert would be out 8 weeks and then the very next day Mostert says he’s out for the year after consulting with other doctors. I’m probably reading way too much into that but there sure seems to be a lack of communication somewhere. Then yesterday Kyle said he didn’t want to put a timetable on Jeff Wilson’s return and he referenced being wrong about Mostert on Monday. Seemed a little annoyed with the whole Mostert situation. Curious where that breakdown occurred. Was that the 49er medical staff not communicating with Kyle about Mostert getting other opinions or did Mostert seek outside opinions without telling the team? Seems like someone in this saga didn’t handle the communication part of it properly. Curious if the way this all went down will impact the 49ers decision to resign Mostert after this year or not. And is there something to worry about with the competency of the 49er medical staff?

    Jack, any insights on that?

    I’ve been trying to think of who Elijah Mitchell reminds me of after watching the Detroit game. Finally, it dawned on me last night, Elijah Mitchell runs very similar to Emmitt Smith. Mitchell always keeps his feet moving to maximize his yardage exactly like Smith. He might get bumped around but even when he’s backpedaling he’s moving forward. He turns 2 yard runs into 6 yard runs on a regular basis with the way he moves his feet. He also doesn’t look overly fast or super athletic. His lateral quickness is not great but he has a knack for making slight adjustments to make defenders miss. I know he ran a fast 40 but he certainly doesn’t play like he’s that fast and neither was Smith. Will be interesting to see how he develops but seems like Shanahan once again found a diamond RB in the rough. Just hope Trey Sermon figures it out so they can make a potent one two punch.

    1. No insights, but I find the whole Mostert thing to be curious as well. This goes back to training camp when he took to twitter to chide the media about any suggestion that he was injured.

      My guess is he’s been dealing with something for a while and it’s been more serious than reported. He’s due to be a free agent this offseason and it was a business decision.

      1. Totally forgot about the Mostert thing in training camp. The cynic in me wonders if Mostert was injured and knew he needed surgery so he made a premeditated plan to go out early in the first game in order to guarantee salary and potentially keep the door open for a return to San Francisco (especially if the team doctors were saying the injury was not serious). I know thats a little conspiracy theoryish but that type of thing has happened in the NFL many times.

        1. Imo they’d be nuts to resign him. Unreliable and past his prime. Btw I enjoy your insights. Now if we only had that Dallas online.

            1. George, can you really take this guy seriously, with a screen name like this? You seem like a decent human being, George, why do you engage with an obvious troll?

              Unless, of course, you believe what happened on 1.6 was an act of Patriotism? Come on George, you don’t need to engage with people who perpetrate the BIG LIE!

              I hope you realize, George, that the big lie is damaging our democracy in a very dangerous way.

              1. Here’s the thing, George. While I do believe most things involving politics should be left out of sports blogs (of course there instances when sports and politics naturally intersect), I also believe that, just as in the case of blatant racism, when it comes to an egregious immoral act like insinuating that what happened on January 6th was a form of patriotism, it’s our responsibility to actually push back on those who spew these immoral points of view.

                It’s no longer enough to personally disagree with people like this, without actually pushing back, because complacency leads to complicity, and this kind of thinking is extremely dangerous for a representative democracy like we have in this Country.

                What happened in Washington D.C., on 1.6, was absolutely undemocratic, and in some cases, an act of treason. A representative democracy is built around the principle of FAIR and FREE elections. Conspiring to “overthrow, put down or to destroy by force the government of the United States”; “oppose by force” the authority of the government; or prevent or delay the execution of any law of the United States, is defined as a seditious conspiracy. Therefore, what happened on 1.6, and the BIG LIE that is being pushed by one of our two major parties, and which perpetrated the events of January 6th, are a direct threat to our democracy.

                I am not sure if you all realize just how close we came to losing our democracy, or understand the profoundly negative effects that this would have had on our livelihood, but if you do, then you need to understand that this is not a game! Football is game. Putting our democracy at risk is NOT a game!

                This is as serious of an issue that we have ever faced as a country, and as a society, and for those of you who don’t understand just how serious this subject is, then you need to educate yourselves. And if you do understand, then you need to speak up, and either push back on those who want to bring this country to it’s knees, or educate those who simply don’t understand the seriousness of this issue that is literally putting our livelihoods at risk. Silence on this issue is no longer an option!

          1. Are you sure about that George? The oline that, despite having one the games premiere backs behind them, opened the season with a measly 60 total rushing yards?

            I’ll take ours.

            1. Never mind. I see you where referring to the Emmit Smith era line. We did get 1/5 of that line for a couple years. 🙂

          2. If he works his way back to this year’s training camp form after his surgery, I can see ShanaLynch signing him to a one-year, incentive-laden, prove-it contract. Mos-Ferrati is a bit of a unicorn among backs, albeit a glass unicorn.

            1. Mood, I’m responding late so don’t know if you’ll ever read this. Anyway, I guess they’ll have to ask themselves, is a RB with an injury history like his worth paying as a starter?

          3. Agree on the unreliable part. Mostert is very good, but he’s never been able to stay healthy as a running back.

          1. Yah, no kidding, Rib.

            Is it any surprise that this guy doesn’t understand that his conspiracy theory makes absolutely no sense. Anyone with an ounce of critical awareness would be able to see that nothing about 1.6 Traitor’s conspiracy theory comes anywhere close to passing the smell test. In fact, my daughter would be able see right through this ridiculous theory, and she’s SIX fricken years old! Unless we are to believe that the 49ers own team doctor is somehow in on the ruse, 1.6 Traitor’s conspiracy theory completely falls apart.

            And in all seriousness, I have a feeling that this guy either has a damaged Prefrontal Cortex, or he simply has no regard for the truth. The former is a medical defect, while the latter a character flaw.

            Either way, both of these conditions are considered mental deficiencies, in which case this guy clearly needs help.

            If it’s a damaged Prefrontal Cortex that 1.6 Traitor is suffering from, it would be considered a physical handicap, in which case he deserves our genuine empathy.

            However, if it’s simply a complete disregard for the truth, which is most likely the case, then the problem with this guy is not only a lack of character, but a moral defect, which doesn’t call for empathy, but rather serious rebuke!

  4. Our running game will be fine
    1. In the 2019 Superbowl season Mostert led the team with 750 yards and Breida /Coleman combined for nearly 1400. The team collectively rushed for 2300. We will see a similar committee approach this season. I would not be shocked if Jeff Wilson leads the team in rushing yards when all is said and done.
    2. I dont care for the Raiders but their new stadium is awesome. Mark Davis is a pretty unusual dude but he is front an center at all the Raider games. Has anyone every seen Jed York at a Niner game ???
    3. I watched a bit of the Manning brothers Monday Night coverage on ESPN and it wasn’t bad at all. They brought in guests , Kelce/Russ Wilson , to offer an additional layer of analysis.

    1. That stadium in Las Vegas is pretty nice have to admit.

      Looking at some of the newer stadiums around the country it’s obvious the 49ers missed the mark by a country mile in designing Levi’s.

      Conversely that new SoFi stadium down in Los Angeles looks absolutely stunning.

      1. Somehow the Yorks figured out a way to design a stadium with little to non home field advantage. Bunch of geniuses that family. And there was me expecting another House of Boom.

          1. chet, you hit it on the nose. This is a business to them, and they love counting the money. As owners, it’s their right. But they’re not owners a fan would want any day of the week.

  5. Next man up (down)!

    Dre Greenlaw to have surgery on his groin and will likely miss 4-6 weeks.

    We’re about to see what Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles can do (who?).

    [sigh]

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