Christian McCaffrey didn’t take a snap Thursday night, but the 49ers’ final preseason game still worked out nicely for him.
San Francisco beat the Las Vegas Raiders in a kickfest to close out the preseason, and the biggest takeaway for the star running back was what happened behind him. The concern all summer was simple: who would lighten McCaffrey’s load? By the end of the night, the answer looked a lot better than it did a few weeks ago.
Rookie Kaelon Black, a third-round pick who wasn’t even invited to the NFL combine, got the start and handled four carries for 28 yards, an efficient 7.0 yards per touch. Then Jordan James, who had spent most of August dealing with a fractured rib, came in and picked up right where Black left off. James finished with 35 yards on eight carries and added a 20-yard catch in his return to action.
It was another encouraging showing for Black, who has now put together two games where he looked capable. For James, it was his first action of the season.
The 49ers still haven’t formally settled on who sits behind McCaffrey as the clear No. 2, but Thursday moved the whole picture in the right direction. Not long ago, there was a real argument that McCaffrey didn’t have a reliable running mate.
Now it looks like he may have two.
That matters because McCaffrey is still the guy. Nothing about Thursday changes that, and nothing is going to change that. Last season, he accounted for 77.2 percent of the team’s running back carries, a workload few backs can keep repeating year after year.
If Black and James can handle real stretches of work once the games count, it could take some of that burden off McCaffrey and help keep him fresh. He’s 30 now, still in great shape, but still a human body with a limited amount of wear to give. The 49ers know that every running back has a shelf life, and a stronger backup group would help stretch McCaffrey’s.
So while Thursday was mostly about backups in a preseason game, it also offered something bigger for San Francisco: some real confidence that McCaffrey won’t have to carry everything by himself. When he needs a break, the 49ers may finally be able to trust the next man up.
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