The San Francisco 49ers have struggled to do much of anything with their rushing attack this season. Looking across the league, there must be some regret they didn't take standout rookie running back Cam Skattebo in the NFL Draft.
San Francisco finally got its first rushing touchdown of the season as a team on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Meanwhile, Skattebo already has five rushing touchdowns on the year for the New York Giants with three of them coming in one game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The rookie has been great thus far for New York. Through six games, he has 82 carries for 338 rushing yards and five touchdowns. Meanwhile, the Niners have just 493 rushing yards as a team this season, as they just have not been able to get anything going on the ground despite having one of the most talented players in the game in running back Christian McCaffrey.
49ers can openly regret not drafting Cam Skattebo
There is a world in which the 49ers could have brought Skattebo, a Sacramento native, to the Bay Area. Skattebo himself believed the Niners were going to take him in the 2025 NFL Draft, but that is not the route San Francisco took.
Instead, San Francisco passed on the Arizona State product and ended up selecting running back Jordan James out of the University of Oregon.
James has not appeared in a single game for the Niners this season as he deals with a hand injury.
If the Niners drafted Skattebo, he probably would not have seen a ton of playing time with McCaffrey still being the primary back. But in seeing how strong he has been as a rookie, the 49ers could have had a perfect replacement for McCaffrey on their hands.
Instead, the Niners will just be left wondering what could have been. Thankfully, McCaffrey has still been a supremely productive player this season, but that is due to how good he has been as a pass-catcher.
The 49ers will likely get to see Skattebo up close in Week 9 as they will travel to the east coast to take on the Giants. Unfortunately, Skettbo will not get to go up against star linebacker Fred Warner like he had hoped after Warner suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Week 6 against Tampa Bay.
With all of the injuries on San Francisco's defense, it is setting up for Skattebo to truly make the Niners regret passing on him if he has a huge game against a team he grew up rooting for.