49ers need more production from other running backs on roster

Although the 49ers received great contributions from various position groups, they are going to need a more healthy, productive stable of running backs in 2023.  

If the San Francisco 49ers are going to be a run-first offense, they’ll need their entire crop of running backs to contribute in big ways.

Not just the All-Pro, Christian McCaffrey.

The Niners’ two rookies in 2022, Jordan Mason and Tyrion Davis-Price, saw limited action during their first full season as professionals. They are both deserving of additional playing time especially after displaying their individual skill sets, which should make them huge assets for the foreseeable future.

Mason is a shifty, powerful runner with fairly decent ball-carrier vision, while Davis-Price provides the elusive skills that’ll create mismatches all over the field.

Perhaps they’ll gain enough trust from the coaching staff during this year’s offseason training regimen. As long as they continue protecting the ball while consistently stacking positive days of practice, they’ll find themselves contributing when the games actually matter.

The 49ers have another stud in their running back room but haven’t been able to depend on his services for a full season. Two-year pro Elijah Mitchell has been plagued by injuries since the Niners made him the 194th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Within two years of being drafted, Mitchell has played in a total of 16 games, which is basically equivalent to one full season. Head coach Kyle Shanahan knows how vital it is to spread the wealth by implementing a running back-by-committee style of offense, and Mitchell gives the Niners another viable offensive option with a great balance of speed, agility and power.

Only if he is healthy, though.

As previously stated, McCaffrey has pretty much been the workhorse since arriving in San Francisco at the 2022 NFL trade deadline. In order to alleviate his workload and extend the playing careers of each one of these premier runners, a rotation will be extremely key moving forward.

It’ll be interesting to see how Niner brass plans to address the injury issues this upcoming season.  There’s never a clear-cut solution to completely solve all of the problems that have been haunting them since 2018, but if they can find ways to keep their core group of players healthy enough to finish the season, good things just may be waiting at the end of the tunnel for them.