While it is obvious that Christian McCaffrey will be the starting running back for the San Francisco 49ers so long as he is healthy, the competition for who will comprise the depth chart behind him just got much more interesting due to injuries.
Rookie running back Jordan James out of the University of Oregon has been dealing with a knee injury and has missed the last few practices. Then, second-year back Isaac Guerendo had to leave practice over the weekend after suffering an apparent shoulder injury.
Now, the door has been opened for undrafted prospect Corey Kiner.
Kiner went undrafted out of the University of Cincinnati where he had some solid seasons. In his final two years, he racked up over 2,000 rushing yards total and had nine total touchdowns for the Bearcats.
Even before these injuries, Kiner seemed like a candidate to stand out at training camp. He was a potential threat to James and Guerendo even when they were healthy, and the early reports suggest Kiner has looked good in camp.
We know the Niners have had a history of bringing in undrafted running backs under head coach Kyle Shanahan and turning them into solid players. Matt Breida springs to mind as a 2017 undrafted tailback with raw speed who developed into a definite threat for San Francisco for a few years.
Jordan Mason, who went undrafted as well, showed everyone how good he was last season as he had to fill in for the injured McCaffrey for much of the year. Jeff Wilson Jr. is another undrafted halfback who played well for San Francisco and could potentially reunite with his old team.
Now Kiner has a prime opportunity to join that list.
One never wants to receive their opportunity due to other players getting injured, but he has to embrace that next-man-up mentality and show the coaching staff what he can do.
Last season, it become very apparent that a team can never have too many running backs. The Niners had four different players start at the position last year, and while they are hoping to avoid a repeat of that, anything can happen.
A lot of attention is understandably being paid to the increasingly dire situation with San Francisco's wide receivers. Yet, at this pace the running back depth chart will be equally bleak.
Kiner has a chance to take advantage of this situation and prove to head coach Kyle Shanahan that he deserves a spot on the team.