​Jordan James #29 of the San Francisco 49ers runs against Cian Slone #48 of the Las Vegas Raiders during the second quarter of a preseason game at Allegiant Stadium on August 27, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ian Maule/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS – Kyle Shanahan says the same thing about his star running back every year. Something about a need to manage his workload. Only to give him the ball 400 times and shrug. Christian McCaffrey in 2025 set a new single-season high for touches, 450 between the regular season and playoffs, and is now 30 years old. Maybe it is time. The youngsters, Kaelon Black and Jordan James, have given Shanahan some reason this preseason to follow through.No promises. But, surely, the San Francisco 49ers drafted enough running backs in the McCaffrey era to hit on a couple of serviceable backups.Black, the talk of training camp, logged a cool 28 yards on seven yards per carry in the preseason finale at the Raiders. It was just more of the same from the explosive third-round draft pick out of Indiana, who is largely running away with the RB2 role after consensus boards considered him a reach in April. Jordan James, a 2025 fifth-rounder, had been out since before the padded portion of camp because of a collision with Fred Warner that fractured his ribs. Upon his return to practice over the weekend, James found himself behind in what had promised to be an interesting position battle. Thursday night was James’ only chance to put something on tape ahead of the season opener in Australia. And he looked good for the most part. James finished with 35 yards in eight carries, including a 17-yarder up the gut with good contact balance, along with a 20-yard catch, which was a screen pass that turned into much more upon his cutback and a nice perimeter block by rookie left guard hopeful Carver Willis. His momentary lapses: Running sideways instead of vertical on a third-and-1 carry that lost a yard (one Black would probably convert) and getting flagged for an illegal block that negated a touchdown pass.Asked this week if the backup running back competition could yield an in-season rotation rather than a clear-cut winner, offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said there would be a defined depth chart, of course. An educated guess says that is McCaffrey followed by Black and then James, at least to start the season. Having options is a good thing. Whether they actually use a three-back rotation will be worth monitoring.Only two got carries last season, mostly McCaffrey, and Brian Robinson Jr. sparingly.”We don’t have to decide anything,” Kubiak said. “I think we’ll go in with a certain order, but those guys are going to keep competing and they’re going to keep competing all the way up until the first week.”Most teams don’t have McCaffrey in their backfield, so perhaps complaining about the 49ers’ revolving door behind him is a good problem to have. Elijah Mitchell trailed McCaffrey upon his arrival in 2023. Jordan Mason emerged as a commodity