49ers roster: These 3 rookies could start right away in 2022
By Peter Panacy
49ers rookie No. 3: Running back Tyrion Davis-Price
You probably questioned the 49ers’ Round 3 selection of former LSU running back Tyrion Davis-Price, someone many a draft pundit felt could have been had much later in the draft and subsequently grabbed by a Niners team that already had a halfback room consisting of two second-year pros, Elijah Mitchell and Trey Sermon, and also boosted by Jeff Wilson Jr. and JaMycal Hasty.
Mitchell, who set a franchise record for a rookie last year with 963 rush yards, is still likely to be the featured back. But he might not actually start. That’s important to note, and it’s an approach head coach Kyle Shanahan used before.
Case in point, in 2019, Shanahan frequently started running back Tevin Coleman (14 starts that year), then letting the faster, more impactful Raheem Mostert serve as the “closing” rusher later in the game.
For the 6-foot-1, 232-pound Davis-Price, he might be the runner taking the field first in an attempt for the Niners to wear down opposing defenses, then allowing the faster and more elusive Mitchell to capitalize after halftime.
That seems to be the plan at least.