Jordan James "seems the most likely" of San Francisco's running backs to take the No. 2 role behind Christian McCaffrey for the upcoming campaign, 's Nick Wagoner reported, a shift that comes as the 49ers openly seek help to manage McCaffrey's unprecedented workload.
McCaffrey led the NFL last year with 413 regular-season touches, and the team has signaled a clear desire to reduce that load in 2026. Head coach Kyle Shanahan put the need bluntly on Monday: "in order to have [McCaffrey] be as good as he can be throughout the whole year, we've got to get someone to help him."
The case for James rests largely on what little game tape he produced late in the season. James did not play until Week 16 last year, but in the NFC divisional round against Seattle he rushed six times for 28 yards and caught his lone target for seven yards — performance Wagoner used to argue James has an inside track on the backup job.
That sample is small, and the circumstances were unmistakable: James gained those yards in garbage time of a blowout loss. Still, with Brian Robinson having served as San Francisco's No. 2 back last season and now gone to Atlanta, the 49ers face a genuine vacancy at the position and limited proven options behind McCaffrey.
Other candidates remain in competition. Isaac Guerendo, who appeared in 14 regular-season games in 2025, did not log a single snap on offense, while rookie Kaelon Black, Patrick Taylor and Sincere McCormick are also in the mix for work in the backfield. The evaluation is as much about preserving McCaffrey as it is about replacing Robinson.
The tension for San Francisco is straightforward: James's late flashes are the most tangible upside among the internal options, but they come from a player who barely saw the field until Week 16. Guerendo's season-long presence on game-day rosters suggests the staff values him for situational or special-teams roles, yet he offers no offensive tape from 2025 to weigh against James's short sample.
For the 49ers, the immediate consequence is roster and practice-plan decisions that will shape the early part of 2026. If James does enter the season with the inside track, the 49ers can begin scripting downs and packages that keep McCaffrey healthier over a full year. If the staff instead leans on a committee or an external addition, McCaffrey's touches will likely be distributed more widely but without a clear lead deputy emerging from within.
The most concrete conclusion warranted by the available facts is this: San Francisco is actively trying to lessen the burden on McCaffrey, and among internal options Jordan James has moved ahead in the pecking order, largely on the strength of late-season play and the vacancy left by Robinson's departure to Atlanta. How durable that advantage will be depends on training-camp performance and whether the 49ers choose to supplement the depth chart before the season starts.
For now, McCaffrey's 413-touch season sits squarely behind the team's decision-making, and James begins the offseason with the clearest path to the No. 2 role — a role the 49ers believe they must fill if McCaffrey is to be at his best in 2026.
