How 49ers Rookie Kaelon Black Earned His Role in the Offense

It's rare for a rookie running back to contribute on the 49ers.

Aug 20, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Kaelon Black (26) runs with the ball during the first quarter against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

For the last few offseasons, the San Francisco 49ers have harped on alleviating Christian McCaffrey’s workload.

It got to a point where you couldn’t fully believe them until you saw it. Well, after Week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams, they’re finally sticking to their words. Rookie Kaelon Black split carries with McCaffrey in that game.

In fact, he took 14 handoffs to McCaffrey’s 10. It was bizarre to see, but also impressive, as it garnered amazing results. However, the 49ers didn’t gift Black those carries just to reduce McCaffrey’s workload.

He earned it.

“I was a little surprised at the end just that Kaelon got more than Christian. That was just kind of how the game went,” said Kyle Shanahan. “He earned in training camp to be our number two back, so he was who we were going to go with and just how prepared he seemed throughout the week.

“He showed during the week how attentive he was, how much he knew, how much he was studying whether he got to rep or not. And when you do that, even though certain things you definitely want to keep Christian in on, that just makes it a lot easier for [running backs coach Robert Turner Jr.] Bobby to sub him.”

Like fellow rookie De’Zhaun Stribling, Black was a polarizing 49ers draft pick. I’d argue he was the wildest selection made by the 49ers in the entire 2026 draft. 

Given their history of drafting running backs, especially in the third round, you couldn’t trust the 49ers’ assessment of Black. There were a couple of other more intriguing and polished prospects as well.

Sure enough, the 49ers seem to have been spot on by choosing Black over others so far. He managed to carry the football four more times than McCaffrey, an All-Pro player.

Think about how wild that is. In fact, let’s take a look at the snap counts. Black's 44% snap share (28 snaps) was the highest by a 49ers running back not named McCaffrey in a game since he was acquired in 2022, per Next Gen Stats.

If the 49ers didn’t believe Black was ready, he’d never see the field. Jordan James would’ve been the one who suited up, while Black was in street clothes, inactive. It shows how hard he’s worked to earn a key role in the offense. 

“That’s how he was advertised coming out of college,” Shanahan said. “He’s rare in terms of his maturity and just how much of a pro he's seemed like since day one.”

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