The Eagles are moving on from another former Niners running back.
The San Francisco 49ers have seen their fair share of draft misses over the years, with a few coming in the third round at a certain position: running back.
Back in the 2021 NFL Draft, the 49ers traded up to draft Trey Sermon in the third round. He played in nine games as a rookie, starting two, rushing for 167 yards and a touchdown on 4.1 yards per carry.
However, he was waived after just one offseason, as San Francisco cut their losses and moved on. Sermon spent his second season with the Philadelphia Eagles, getting just two touches there before heading to the Indianapolis Colts for the past two seasons.
Just one draft later, though, the 49ers went for another third-round running back, taking Tyrion Davis-Price with the No. 93 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. This time, Davis-Price lasted two seasons in San Francisco, although he struggled heavily across both campaigns, rushing for just 120 combined yards on 3.0 yards per carry.
After that, he was waived as well, and he spent the 2024 season on the Eagles practice squad. He was elevated for one game this past season, getting three carries for seven yards. Davis-Price had signed a reserve/future contract with Philadelphia after the season ended, but it appears he will not play for the Eagles in 2025.
Davis-Price was waived by Philadelphia on Sunday, as the Eagles made room to sign wide receiver Giles Jackson as an undrafted free agent. Now, he’ll look for his third team in four years.
San Francisco has struggled to draft running backs during the Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch era. First came their miss in 2017 when drafting Joe Williams in the fourth round.
Then, they missed on Sermon in the third round in 2021 (although they struck paydirt with Elijah Mitchell in the sixth round). After that came the Tyrion Davis-Price pick in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
San Francisco elected not to take a running back in the 2023 NFL Draft before landing Isaac Guerendo with a trade-up in the fourth round last year. Guerendo rushed for 420 yards and five touchdowns on 84 carries as a rookie, while catching 15 passes for 152 yards.
Then, in this year’s draft, they took Oregon’s Jordan James in the fifth round. Guerendo is expected to back up starter Christian McCaffrey with Jordan Mason gone, while James should compete for the RB3 role with veteran Patrick Taylor Jr.
Who knows? Maybe if one of the recent draftees at running back doesn’t work out, they’ll head to the Eagles, too. But, for 49ers’ fans’ sake, let’s hope that we don’t get there.