The San Francisco 49ers are signing running back Patrick Taylor Jr. to a one-year deal, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Taylor, 25, has spent the entirety of his three-year career with the Green Bay Packers. He appeared in 34 games for Green Bay, rushing for 261 yards on 4.0 yards per carry and one touchdown. Taylor added 14 receptions for 69 yards through the air. He tallied a career-high 141 rushing yards on 4.4 yards per carry this past season.
Taylor will provide further depth behind 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, the NFL’s rushing champion in 2023. San Francisco’s running back corps also includes Elijah Mitchell and Jordan Mason.
More on the 2024 NFL offseason, free agency
The NFL 2024 calendar year began at 4 p.m. ET on March 13. At that time, contracts running through 2023 officially ran out, making those players free agents. Prior to the beginning of free agency, teams had a chance to designate one franchise or transition tag player, starting on Feb. 20 at 4 p.m. ET and ending on March 5. Beginning March 11 through March 13, teams can enter into a legal negotiation with players who are set to become unrestricted free agents.
In addition to NFL free agency, the new year also marks the beginning of all trades being made official by the league office. April 19 marks the deadline to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets. On April 24, the deadline for teams to match restricted free agent offers sheets hits. Following the restricted free agent deadline follows the 2024 NFL Draft, which runs from April 25-27.
More on restricted, exclusive rights free agents
Players with only three years of accredited NFL experience become restricted free agents. Their original team will have the option to apply first-round, second-round, original-round, and right-of-fight-of-first-refusal tenders on players at escalating price tags. The higher the round, the more expensive the tender amount; however, if a separate team does offer a contract and the original team does not match that round pick will be conveyed from the new team to the original team. Right of first refusal only gives a team the option to match or not. If they don’t match, they get nothing in return. An original-round tender would send a draft pick from whatever round the player was drafted back to the original team if they chose not to match. The original team will have five days to match once a player signs an offer sheet from a new team.
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