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49ers Met with Shrine Bowl MVP Running Back Jacory Croskey-Merritt

Apparently, the 49ers are back in the market for a running back.
Grant Cohn|
Jan 30, 2025; Arlington, TX, USA; East running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt of Arizona (31) is presented with the offensive MVP trophy after the East defeats the West in the East-West Shrine Bowl at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Jan 30, 2025; Arlington, TX, USA; East running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt of Arizona (31) is presented with the offensive MVP trophy after the East defeats the West in the East-West Shrine Bowl at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

Apparently, the 49ers are back in the market for a running back.

They recently met with Arizona running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt according to Ryan Fowler of The Draft Network. Croskey-Merritt recently put himself on the map by winning the MVP of the East-West Shrine Bowl and has met with lots of NFL teams recently -- not just the 49ers. As of now, he is projected to be an undrafted free agent.

Croskey-Merritt spent four seasons at Alabama State, then in 2023 transferred to New Mexico where he gained 1,282 yards and scored 18 touchdowns. Finally, he transferred one more time to Arizona where he rushed for 106 yards and one touchdown in his first game of the season. Then, the NCAA determined that he had no more collegiate eligibility, so Arizona shut him down for the rest of the season. But he clearly has talent as he showed in the Shrine Game.

The 49ers need a running back because Christian McCaffrey will be 29 next season and missed all but four games this season due to Achilles and knee injuries. In addition, backup running back Jordan Mason will be a free agent next month and most likely will sign elsewhere. If he leaves, the 49ers will need to replace him, and Croskey-Merritt could be an excellent replacement.

Remember, Mason was an undrafted free agent in 2022. The 49ers have had success finding rookie running backs after the draft or late in the draft. We'll see if they'll meet with any other sleeper running backs soon.

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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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