Ever since the San Francisco 49ers selected running back Kaelon Black in Round 3 of the 2026 NFL Draft, he has been compared to past Niners running back draft busts like Trey Sermon and Ty Davis-Price.
While that is not entirely fair to Black, he seems to be extremely aware of both that history and the discourse surrounding his selection.
According to Noah Furtado of the San Francisco Chronicle, who just wrote an interesting profile on Black, the Indiana product said the following about his selection:
"I know one of the things I was hit with before was San Francisco has a habit of drafting running backs in the third to the fifth round, and they don’t play or they don’t pan out ... I don’t want to get grouped with anybody in the past."
It’s interesting to hear a player speak so candidly about past draft mistakes by a team. Obviously, if he’s on social media at all or allows himself to hear any of the noise, that is going to work its way into his head.
It’s fair to wonder whether that will be more of a blessing or a curse.
One could look at it as a positive since it will give Black extra motivation to prove he is a legitimate NFL player. Some players thrive off that mentality when they feel as if they have something to prove every time they step out on the field.
At the same time, it may not be the healthiest thing for a player to feel like he has to make up for a team’s past draft failures. Those failures fall upon head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch, so Black shouldn’t feel like he has to be something more than what he is so his coach and GM can save face.
Black has even said before that he wants to prove Shanahan made the right decision by selecting him, so one hopes he is not putting undue weight upon his own shoulders.
He clearly has some skills and attributes that got the 49ers excited. He’s a better pass-catcher than his college numbers would indicate, and he’s got speed even if his size isn’t incredibly impressive.
Plus, with Christian McCaffrey still playing at an elite level, Black will not be asked to carry the load of everything goes according to plan.
Of course, 2024 showed everyone those plans can be blow to smithereens, as the 49ers had to start four different running backs that season, so if it’s a repeat of that year, Black could find himself being baptized by fire.
Some healthy motivation to prove the doubters wrong is usually a good thing, but hopefully Black just goes out in the field and tries to be himself rather than trying to break some sort of curse when it comes to the Niners drafting running backs.
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