The San Francisco 49ers have some clear needs ahead of the Nov. 4 NFL trade deadline. However, they also have some players who they should probably offload while they still have some value.
Running back Isaac Guerendo falls into that camp.
The second-year rusher has been completely iced out of San Francisco's rushing attack so far this season. He does not have a single carry on the year after he rushed for 420 yards and had four touchdowns in his rookie campaign last season.
He began the season on kick return duties but was removed from that as well, in favor of running back Brian Robinson, which shows just how much Guerendo has fallen out of favor in San Francisco.
In a way, it is a good thing that Guerendo has seen so little action this season because a big reason for it has to do with the health of Christian McCaffrey and Robinson ahead of him on the depth chart. McCaffrey has been a beast this season, and Robinson finally showed why the 49ers swung a trade for him in the preseason as he scored his first touchdown with the Niners on Sunday against the New York Giants.
Guerendo is a nice depth option to have, but the former fourth-round pick could probably net the Niners a late-round draft pick in a trade if they dangled him ahead of the deadline. A team in need of some running back depth would benefit from having him, especially after the promise he showed in 2024.
Plus, the Niners would not be in much worse shape if they traded Guerendo because they have rookie running back Jordan James, who has yet to see any action so far this season. He was dealing with an injury early on but has been a healthy scratch the last several weeks.
Maybe San Francisco does not feel James is ready yet, but they did spend a fifth-round pick on him out of the University of Oregon and at one time felt he could be the backup to McCaffrey, so it would not hurt to have him on the roster as a third-stringer.
Guerendo's fall from grace has been acute this season when many assumed he would be the backup entering the season, especially after Jordan Mason was traded in the offseason.
Instead, Guerendo's stock has fallen, which is why the Niners should trade him to a team in need of running back depth so they can still get some value out of him while they can.