Why the 49ers Claimed Running Back Israel Abanikanda off Waivers

The 49ers just added a player to the thinnest position group on their team.
East Rutherford, NJ -- August 24, 2024 -- Israel Abanikanda of the Jets runs the ball in the first half. The New York Giants and New York Jets meet at MetLife Stadium in the final preseason game of the 2024 season for both teams.`
East Rutherford, NJ -- August 24, 2024 -- Israel Abanikanda of the Jets runs the ball in the first half. The New York Giants and New York Jets meet at MetLife Stadium in the final preseason game of the 2024 season for both teams.` / Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK
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The 49ers just added a player to the thinnest position group on their team.

They claimed former New York Jets running back Israel Abanikanda off waiver on Tuesday according to The NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. Abanikanda is now one of just two running backs on the 49ers' 53-man roster now that Christian McCaffrey and Jordan Mason are on Injured Reserve. The other active running back is rookie Isaac Guerendo. The 49ers also have Patrick Taylor Jr. on the practice squad and most likely will activate him for Sunday's game against the Bears. But for now, the 49ers' only running backs are Guerendo and Abanikanda.

Abanikanda also is a rookie -- he was the Jets' fifth-round draft pick this year. He appeared in six games and ran 22 times for 70 yards (3.2 yards per carry). Not good. He also caught 7 passes for 43 yards and fumbled once. No wonder the Jets waived him just a few months after drafting him.

And yet the 49ers need him because they're desperate for running backs. And at least Abanikanda is young and athletic. At his Pro Day in March, he ran a 4.45 at 216 pounds. And his final season at the University of Pittsburgh, he ran for 1,431 yards and 20 touchdowns. So maybe he has some untapped potential. It's not like the Jets ever know what they're doing on offense.

I'm guessing the 49ers gave Abanikanda a high draft grade and that's why they're interested in him. Now he's just one injury away from being their starting running back.

Life sure comes at you fast.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.