49ers NFL Draft: Biggest winners, losers from 2021
By Peter Panacy
Losers: 49ers running backs Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr.
As soon as the Niners bid farewell to running backs Tevin Coleman and Jerick McKinnon, still-rostered rushers Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr. were poised to have substantially more opportunities this season with fewer hands to feed touches.
At least that was the plan. And considering both are entering contract years, it’s probably good for both Mostert and Wilson to boost their free-agent stock value for 2022.
Yet that was before San Francisco added two more running backs via the draft, Ohio State’s Trey Sermon in Round 3 and Louisiana-Lafayette’s Elijah Mitchell in Round 6.
Sermon is the bigger bruising-type running back who also excels in outside-zone runs. While not the fastest, he can break tackles. And the fact the 49ers used a relatively high pick, at least by their standards, on Sermon means they fully intend to make him a full-use rusher in the very near future.
Mitchell, meanwhile, is more of the speedy and shifty tailback, capable of using both his rushing elusiveness and pass-catching abilities to serve as a dynamic multifaceted weapon in Kyle Shanahan’s offense.
In some regards, Mitchell could be pegged to be the fast replacement for the 29-year-old Mostert, while Sermon could be an eventual replacement for Wilson, although not necessarily in that order on the depth chart.
Either way, the two moves at running back don’t exactly endorse either Mostert or Wilson coming back next year, and the rookies’ presence mean fewer touches for the two veterans, too.