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Will the 49ers Use Rookie Running Back Jordan James in 2025?

ESPN ranks James in the lowest tier of rookie running backs -- "depth" backs.
Grant Cohn|
Oregon running back Jordan James carries the ball during warmups as the Oregon Ducks face the Ohio State Buckeyes Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in the quarterfinal of the College Football Playoff at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
Oregon running back Jordan James carries the ball during warmups as the Oregon Ducks face the Ohio State Buckeyes Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in the quarterfinal of the College Football Playoff at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers need bodies in the running back room.

Last season, the 49ers were down to fourth-string running back Patrick Taylor Jr. in Week 18 because the top three running backs on the depth chart all were injured.

This offseason, the 49ers traded Jordan Mason to the Minnesota Vikings and then drafted Oregon running back Jordan James in Round 5. If history is any indication, James will play and perhaps even start at some point next season.

And yet, ESPN ranks James in the lowest tier of rookie running backs -- "depth" backs.

"San Francisco's RB room looks a lot different from last season, as Jordan Mason was traded away and Elijah Mitchell signed with the Chiefs," writes ESPN's Mike Clay.

"James should make the 53-man roster, but he's likely to work behind Christian McCaffrey, Isaac Guerendo and perhaps Patrick Taylor Jr. James' collegiate efficiency was all over the map. His career 3.0 yards after contact per carry was below average, but he also had class-best 11% negative run and 49% 5-plus-yard run rates. James is limited as a receiver and underwhelmed at the combine."

Sounds like Clay isn't the biggest fan of James.

Projecting James to start the season at the bottom of the depth chart is reasonable considering he's a rookie. But when Elijah Mitchell was a rookie, he replaced Raheem Mostert during Week 1 for 2021 when Mostert got injured and then started the rest of the season.

If McCaffrey gets injured and misses more time, which is possible, James probably would be best suited to replace him in the starting lineup. Guerendo is explosive but not durable enough to start, and Taylor Jr. is nothing special.

Don't be surprised if James plays much more than ESPN expects next season.

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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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