49ers trade for Christian McCaffrey, who wins or loses in a big way?
By Peter Panacy
49ers loser: Tyrion Davis-Price
Yes, it’d be fair to list the fill-in starter at running back, Jeff Wilson Jr., as a loser in the wake of the Christian McCaffrey trade.
But Wilson was likely never going to be tabbed as the top rusher this season, and signs were pointing to him losing his role once Elijah Mitchell returned to the fray. That was the case all along.
McCaffrey’s addition does, however, cast some serious doubts as to whether or not San Francisco will ever get much out of its 2022 rookie running back addition, Tyrion Davis-Price, who is also on the mend with an injury and hasn’t made much of a statistical impact this season whatsoever.
Davis-Price might still be something of a short-yardage tailback, and that was an area in which the 49ers struggled in 2021, all but leading them to take the flier on the former LSU product.
Yet the longer shadow gets cast on the Niners’ attempts to infuse talent at the position so early in the draft, namely with no-longer-with-the-team running back Trey Sermon in 2021 and now Davis-Price most recently.
Barring some sort of unforeseen turnaround, Davis-Price is never going to be a standout star in San Francisco.