Sincere McCormick may not look like much more than a roster afterthought on paper, but he could wind up being one of the 49ers’ more useful preseason bodies.
The 25-year-old running back has spent much of San Francisco’s offseason hanging around the edge of the 90-man roster, the kind of player who seems to drift on and off the transaction wire. Still, there’s a path here for the 2022 undrafted free agent out of UTSA, even if it probably doesn’t lead to a meaningful regular-season role with the Niners.
San Francisco’s backfield behind Christian McCaffrey is unsettled enough to keep things interesting. Jordan James and Kaelon Black look like the top candidates to compete for the No. 2 spot, while Isaac Guerendo appears to be the odd man out. That doesn’t leave a lot of obvious runway for McCormick in training camp.
But McCaffrey’s situation changes the equation. He’s now 30 years old and coming off a massive 413-touch season in 2025, so the 49ers have every reason to keep him wrapped in bubble wrap when the preseason rolls around. He likely won’t see the field in exhibition games, which opens the door for the rest of the running back room to soak up the snaps.
That’s where McCormick can sneak into the picture.
If he’s sitting as RB4 on game day, there’s a real chance he gets late-game carries while the other backs handle the earlier reps. Those touches would come against players who may not even be on rosters in September, but preseason production still matters for guys like McCormick.
He showed a little something in 2024 with the Raiders, averaging 4.7 yards per carry on 39 rushing attempts for 183 yards. That doesn’t guarantee anything, but it does suggest he has enough juice to matter somewhere.
For San Francisco, his best value might be in the same lane as past preseason names like Jeremy McNichols, Ke’Shawn Vaughn and Corey Kiner. None of them turned into true 49ers fixtures, but they did enough in exhibition games to raise their profile elsewhere around the league.
McCormick could follow that same script. And if the 49ers give him the kind of late-preseason workload that seems possible, fans may get a decent look at him in the third and fourth quarters.
It just probably won’t amount to much once the real games begin.
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