49ers roster predictions: Who’s in, out at running back?
By Peter Panacy
The 49ers have some tough choices to make at the back end of their running back group, so let’s try predicting who makes the cut in 2021.
The San Francisco 49ers suffered a key loss to their running back corps already this offseason.
Running back Jeff Wilson Jr., the Niners’ leading touchdown scorer a year ago, suffered a torn meniscus during OTAs. And while the injury doesn’t appear to be related to anything he was doing on the field, the fact Wilson has played a small but key role for head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense the last two years doesn’t bode well for the team’s depth chart.
In addition to the two returning fullbacks, Kyle Juszczyk and Josh Hokit, San Francisco brought aboard three new halfbacks to compete initially with Wilson as well as Raheem Mostert and JaMycal Hasty. Free-agent pickup Wayne Gallman and draftees Trey Sermon and Elijah Mitchell are now added to the mix, somewhat making up for the loss of Wilson, who’ll be out four to six months.
To some extent, Wilson’s injury opens up the door for some of the 49ers’ depth running backs, who’ll want to impress during training camp and the preseason.
Shanahan will likely keep just one fullback and four running backs. And while the starters aren’t too hard to figure out, it’ll be interesting to see which players wind up making the cut for the Week 1 roster.
A lot can change between now and the start of the regular season. But as far as predictions go, let’s take an early pre-training camp stab at which running backs wind up sticking around and which ones are out.