Best x factor for the 49ers
By: Jake Rajala
The San Francisco 49ers have a plethora of talent. They have young players and veterans. With that said, I’m going to talk about an x factor for the 49ers. This would be none other than the running back Kaelon Black.
Black was the third round pick by John Lynch and company in 2026. He is the back-up to the future Hall of Famer Christian McCaffrey. Brock Purdy is already impressed by Black’s intensity on the football field.
Black was injured and missed practice, but he returned yesterday. It didn’t take long for Kyle Shanahan to rave about him. He said the following, “I thought he looked good from what I saw. It was his first practice back. It’s always tough going against another team on your first practice back and he looked healthy and had some juice today.”
Kaelon is filling in as the lead back with Christian McCaffrey sidelined from an injury. Kaelon doesn’t have the same receiving skills as CMAC, but he is still a bowling ball.
Kaelon was projected to be a 5th to 6th round pick by Lance Zierlein of NFL.com. It’s quite difficult to predict skill players, especially at the running back position.
It’s vital that Kaelon can step it up this season. Even if Jauan is a RB, he needs to be lethal, so he can help the offense as a whole. The 49ers are somewhat thin at the WR spot. They lost Jauan Jennings, Ricky Pearsall, and Brandon Aiyuk. Even George Kittle is prone to injury.
The 49ers are wise to look ahead and draft Black. After Black, they have Jordan James and Isaac Guerendo. They could have signed a free agent RB, but I like that they decided they need a younger, cheaper ball-carrier right now.
CMAC is also prone to injury, so we may see a lot of Black this upcoming season. CMAC is also 31, so Black may be the long-term answer at the RB spot in San Francisco. I’m not saying he is Frank Gore or Roger Craig, but he could be a modest borderline Pro Bowl RB.
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