49ers roster: 53-man bubble watch with 2022 minicamp in the books
By Peter Panacy
49ers bubble watch: Running back
Lock: Tyrion Davis-Price*, Kyle Juszczyk, Elijah Mitchell
Strong bubble: Trey Sermon, Jeff Wilson Jr.
Weak bubble: JaMycal Hasty, Jordan Mason*
Long shot: Josh Hokit
There’s plenty of fluidity when it comes to evaluating San Francisco’s running back room, and about the only guarantee is Kyle Juszczyk will start at fullback, relegating Josh Hokit to the practice squad for yet another season.
We can and should assume last year’s rookie standout, Elijah Mitchell, is a lock after his 963-yard campaign a year ago, but whether or not he’s a clear-cut starter is largely contingent upon the 49ers’ third-round selection of Tryion Davis-Price from this year’s draft.
Davis-Price, more of a power back, could take a lot of the workload away from Mitchell and others on the depth chart, including Trey Sermon and Jeff Wilson Jr., who aren’t necessarily in vital danger of being pushed off the roster but aren’t quite guaranteed spots either.
Particularly if another undrafted rookie, Jordan Mason, continues to impress. He has been one of the better performers during offseason workouts, pushing him up the depth chart from a long shot and onto the weaker portion of the bubble.
If Mason continues to thrive, things could get awfully interesting on the back end of the running back room entering the regular season.