The San Francisco 49ers faced immediate scrutiny after selecting running back Kaelon Black with the No. 90 overall pick in the third round of the NFL Draft—far earlier than many projections suggested.
Additionally, San Francisco's recent track record of drafting running backs hasn't been good. In recent years, the 49ers have had limited success at the position.
The team selected Jordan James in 2025, and he logged just three offensive snaps as a rookie. Isaac Guerendo was drafted in 2024 and has already been viewed as a roster bubble player.
The 49ers selected Tyrion Davis-Price in 2022. He is no longer in the league. Elijah Mitchell and Trey Sermon were drafted in 2021. Neither is on the roster.
Joe Williams, whom head coach Kyle Shanahan personally campaigned for in 2017, never appeared in a regular-season game.
Black is fully aware of that narrative—and he is determined to break the trend.
"I know one of the things I was hit with before was San Francisco has a habit of drafting running backs in the third to the fifth round, and they don't play or they don't pan out, and I'm just trying to change that narrative for myself," Black told Noah Furtado of the San Francisco Chronicle.
"I don't want to get grouped with anybody in the past. I'm really just in my own lane, it's how I've been my whole life."
The criticism surrounding the 49ers' decision to select him higher than expected has also become an added motivation.
"It makes me want to go harder," Black said earlier this month. "I gotta prove my coach right. I'd be lying if I said I haven't seen the backlash that he's been getting for the pick, but we just stay the course, we stay focused, and we're going to keep moving and try to prove him right."
Heading into the draft, the 49ers graded Black as the second-best running back among all the prospects. Few likely agreed with that assessment.
"That's just our evaluation of him. Right or wrong, that's our evaluation," Shanahan said.
With organized team activities beginning this week, Black will get his first real opportunity to show why the 49ers were confident in the pick—and begin carving out a role in the team's ground attack.
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