TreySermon

Nick Wagoner·May 4

How he can help now: At the NFL's annual league meeting in March, Shanahan was adamant about trying to find ways to spell star running back

Christian McCaffrey, who is about to turn 30 and had a league-leading 413 touches last year. That, plus the Niners' insistence on drafting a running back in the middle rounds, led them to select Black even with Jordan James and Isaac Guerendo on the roster. In Black, the 49ers are getting a productive, powerful back with experience in their outside zone scheme. He rushed for 1,040 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2025 despite splitting time for Indiana. "You can't help but love the kid and everything he stands for," Lynch said. "And then you turn on the film, and we really feel like he can help us in a big way and we're really excited to have landed him." At running back, the Niners were fortunate healthwise last season with McCaffrey making it through the season. Black provides additional insurance with James the current favorite to be No. 2 behind McCaffrey. The vision for the future: Things haven't gone well for most of the running backs -- Joe Williams, Trey Sermon, Tyrion Davis-Price, Guerendo -- the Niners have selected in the middle rounds. The five the team has selected in Rounds 3-5 under Shanahan and Lynch have combined for 707 rushing yards in their careers. Coincidentally, San Francisco has been more successful finding running backs later. Undrafted free agent Matt Breida outperformed Williams, Elijah Mitchell (sixth round) was better than Sermon, and undrafted Jordan Mason earned a role bigger than Davis-Price. The Niners will eventually need to think about life after McCaffrey. They hope that isn't soon, but they also hope that Black can break that streak of running back letdowns. "We don't think it's relevant [to this year]," Shanahan said. "But hopefully we have better luck."

Nathan Jahnke·Aug 17

Gainwell remains ahead of Kaleb Johnson: All five of Gainwell’s snaps occurred before Johnson played his first snap. For the second straight week, Jaylen Warren sat out with the rest of the clear starters. Gainwell played the first four snaps, followed by Johnson playing well into the third quarter, with players like Trey Sermon. There are times when rookie running backs start lower on the depth charts than people expect, so this wasn’t too concerning for Week 1. However, the Steelers did something very similar this week. Gainwell played all five snaps on the first two drives, and then his day was done earlier than all other Steelers who started this game. Johnson took over after that point. It’s one thing if the two running backs are rotating with Gainwell having a lead at this point, or if Gainwell played significantly before Johnson joined the game. However, when a running back only takes a few snaps to start preseason games and then their day is done, that typically indicates a significant role this season. If Warren and Gainwell both have significant roles, there isn’t much room for Johnson. While it’s possible Johnson can surpass Gainwell on the depth chart as early as next week, we might also never see a clear passing on the depth chart.