Another 49ers mid-round running back could be in trouble.
San Francisco under head coach Kyle Shanahan has made a dubious habit of selecting running backs in the middle rounds of the NFL draft only to have them flame out spectacularly.
Fourth-round pick Joe Williams in the 2017 draft never played a regular season snap for the 49ers. In 2021 they selected Trey Sermon in the third round only to cut him after one subpar year. They followed that up with Ty Davis-Price in Round 3 of the 2022 draft. He wound up getting released during his second season. That trio combined for 81 rushes and 287 rushing yards with one touchdown.
They went back to the well in this year’s draft when they selected RB Isaac Guerendo out of Louisville. He checks a ton of boxes for the 49ers’ offense with his vision and home run speed. Raheem Mostert was a name invoked regularly after the pick. As with other mid-round RBs in Shanahan’s tenure, Guerendo’s rookie campaign hasn’t gotten off to a great start.
He’s one of three 49ers sidelined with a hamstring injury, but his is the only one that’s going to force him out for significant time.
“No, Isaac was worse. That’s going to be a few weeks,” Shanahan told reporters after Monday’s practice. “(WR) Jake (Cowing) is in a similar boat as (WR) Tay (Martin). I think it was a 10 day guess, whenever that started. So hopefully sometime next week.”
Missing any training camp time is brutal for rookies looking to get up to speed in the NFL. They’re not only missing valuable reps against NFL competition, but they’re also missing time where they’re learning the offense in controlled practice setting.
By sitting for multiple weeks Guerendo could fall way behind the pack in a crowded running back room. Assuming San Francisco keeps four at the position, we can pencil in Christian McCaffrey, Jordan Mason and Elijah Mitchell. That leaves one spot for Guerendo, undrafted rookie Cody Schrader, and veteran special teams contributor Patrick Taylor.
Perhaps Guerendo gets on the field and lights it up the way it looked like he might when his NFL productivity was a series of workout numbers, advanced stats and projections. Now those projections aren’t nearly as rosy with the team churning toward their potential Super Bowl run and Guerendo sidelined by a balky hamstring. It’s hard when faced with those facts to not have flashbacks to previous failed mid-round RBs.
There’s still time for Guerendo to climb out of that hole and into a roster spot, but the hole gets deeper each day he’s out.