5 surprising roster cuts 49ers could make after 2021 NFL Draft
By Peter Panacy
No. 2: 49ers Running Back JaMycal Hasty
In all honesty, San Francisco is making a pretty significant transition in its running back room this offseason.
Despite adding Trey Sermon and Elijah Mitchell, one should probably assume the 49ers’ two leading running backs still on the roster, Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr., are safe heading into training camp. Barring an injury or complete meltdown by either, they should make the cut.
Yet neither one of those two players is signed beyond 2021, so it makes sense for the Niners to add some youthful running backs to a run-heavy offense, right?
The only thing, though, is these two moves all but ensure fellow runners Austin Walter and JaMycal Hasty are pushed off San Francisco’s roster.
Walter is a fringe player anyway, but Hasty flashed some serious promise as a scatback last year before tearing his ACL in Week 10. That injury could have kept him off the 53-man roster to begin the regular season, and it might not be overly shocking to see the 49ers use some sort of injury designation on him when Week 1 rolls around.
But Mitchell, who had success at Louisiana-Lafayette as both a quick-cut and speedy rusher capable of serving as a pass-catching option, is probably a more promising tailback than Hasty.
And it could have been a situation where Mitchell would push Hasty off the roster anyway. Add Sermon to the mix, and it’ll be tough for Hasty to hang around in 2021 unless it’s solely through that injury designation.