Projecting the 49ers' Running Back Depth Chart

For the past two seasons, Christian McCaffrey has been the 49ers' starting running back and Elijah Mitchell has been their backup.

Obviously, McCaffrey will remain the starter for a while -- he just won the Offensive Player of the Year Award and signed a contract extension through 2027. But who will be his backup?

Mitchell is the favorite because head coach Kyle Shanahan absolutely adores him. He ran for 963 yards in 11 games as a rookie in 2021. He seemed like a quality starter. But knee injuries have limited Mitchell to just 16 games the past two seasons. And in 2023, he averaged a mere 3.7 yards per carry and 2.3 yards per catch. He was not good.

If Mitchell is healthy, he will be the backup running back. But he hasn't been 100 percent healthy since he entered in the NFL. He's a smaller running back who runs like a much bigger man and his body has suffered because of that.

Meanwhile, third-stringer Jordan Mason a big running back who runs like a big running back, and he has performed exceptionally well when given opportunities the past two seasons. In addition, he's a much better receiver than Mitchell -- that was evident during OTAs and minicamp this offseason.

Both Mitchell and Mason are entering the final year of their contracts, so it's important for the 49ers to get the most out of them before they leave next year.

They also have rookie Isaac Guerendo who's extremely fast, but he's a project who probably won't carry the ball much this year. If he plays at all, he probably will return kickoffs because he did that in college.