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The 49ers have NFL's 6th-Best Running Back Duo per Bleacher Report

Last season, the 49ers' running back room was a disaster.
Grant Cohn|
Nov 10, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) warms up before a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Nov 10, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) warms up before a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

Last season, the 49ers' running back room was a disaster.

Christian McCaffrey played in just four games and scored a grand total of zero touchdowns. Jordan Mason played well early in the season but then got injured and phased out of the offense. And Isaac Guerendo played well for a rookie but he ended his season on a cart after just 84 carries.

Now, Mason is on the Vikings after the 49ers traded him for a fifth-round pick which they used to take safety Marques Sigle, and the 49ers' running back duo is McCaffrey and Guerendo. According to Bleacher Report, this is the NFL's sixth-best running back duo in the league this year.

"The 49ers feel good about Christian McCaffrey's health amid organized team activities, but he will probably see a lighter workload compared to his healthy prime years," writes Bleacher Report's Moe Moton.

"So, Isaac Guerendo could have a sizeable role as the No. 2 tailback following a productive year as the third-stringer.

"Last year, the 24-year-old ran for 420 yards and four touchdowns, averaging five yards per carry in 16 contests. He started in three outings in place of McCaffrey and Jordan Mason.

"Now, Guerendo can spell McCaffrey on a more consistent basis, though he may eventually face competition from rookie fifth-rounder Jordan James for the backup role."

The problem for the 49ers is that McCaffrey often refuses to come off the field, and they've yet to stand up to him about that truly. Maybe this is the year they'll put their foot down and insist he split carries. It would be for the good of the team.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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