It was pretty easy to tell second-year running back Isaac Guerendo was in San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan's doghouse for much of 2025, if not all of it.
Following an impressive rookie campaign in 2024 in which Guerendo rushed for 420 yards and four touchdowns after a litany of injuries, Shanahan effectively iced the Louisville product out of the offense, and Guerendo saw precisely zero offensive snaps his second season in the league.
Things only got worse for Guerendo with San Francisco's late Round 3 selection in the 2026 NFL Draft.
It might've been something of a shocker, but the 49ers picking Indiana running back Kaelon Black at No. 90 overall pretty much tells you everything you need to know about how Shanahan and the Niners see Guerendo at this point.
Behind running back Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco already rostered Jordan James and Patrick Taylor Jr., suggesting Guerendo would have been the RB4 on the depth chart, at best.
Now, Black almost moves into that spot by default, assuming the 49ers finally got the pick right in a round that hasn't historically been good to them at the position.
It's over for Isaac Guerendo if 49ers finally hit on Round 3 running back
If there's some hope for Guerendo, it's the fact the Niners have pretty much entirely failed at selecting running backs in the third round of the draft under Shanahan.
In 2021, San Francisco grabbed Trey Sermon, who saw modest duties and was off the roster a year later. Speaking of a year later, the surprising selection of tailback Tyrion Davis-Price came nowhere close to panning out either, and he managed to make even less of an impact that Sermon despite the 49ers retaining him into 2023.
Perhaps Black winds up being different, giving some depth to a position that has plenty of question marks behind CMC.
For Guerendo, though, it's about as clear an indicator the 49ers want to move on, and it'll be difficult for him to carve out a role unless he either wholly outperforms the rookie between now and roster cuts, or if the Niners wind up needing his services because of injuries.
Either way, it's not a good sign for the third-year pro.
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