Chris Foerster Discusses 49ers RB Isaac Guerendo's Learning Curve

Last week, Guerendo carried the ball one time, gained no yards and never touched the ball again.

Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Isaac Guerendo (31) poses for a photo with New York Jets running back Braelon Allen (0) and center Joe Tippmann (66) after the game at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The 49ers need a backup running back.

That's why they traded up for Isaac Guerendo in Round 4 this year. Just in case someone gets injured. And currently, both Christian McCaffrey and Elijah Mitchell are on Injured Reserve, which means Jordan Mason is the only healthy running back the 49ers trust.

Last week, Guerendo carried the ball one time, gained no yards and never touched the ball again. On Thursday, 49ers running game coordinator Chris Foerster was asked about the challenges Guerendo faces as a rookie running back in the 49ers system.

Here's what Foerster said, courtesy of the 49ers' p.r. department.

FOERSTER: "It's really hard. You just have to coach me. You have to have the right kind of guys that can learn on the fly. They can watch other people and learn without taking the reps. He's doing some of the things. Mas [RB Jordan Mason] had some problems early, when he was getting carries. One of the primary things in zone running is they want to take the ball and cut back too soon. It happened to all our guys in the game and there's a reason we call it you got to press the line of scrimmage. When you're zone running, when you're double teaming on the line of scrimmage, the runner has to keep pressing the double teams to bring those second level defenders so you can zone to block them. If he cuts back too quick while we're double teaming, the linebacker just goes, ‘oh, I'm going to go make the play.’ The runner's tied completely together with the line. And so if you don't press the line of scrimmage or can't press the line of scrimmage because there's a whiff and somebody's in the backfield immediately, we can't block second level defenders and Isaac's run, he cut back entirely too quick. But sometimes you get the ball and you see this hole, you're like, I got to go. No, not yet. And it takes reps, patience, to press the line of scrimmage and get to those holes and eventually they do open up. But you have to have that patience and that's hard to get. But you just have watch it, you have to study it out here in practice, we have to do it. [Running backs coach] Bobby [Turner Jr.] drills it in his drill work, but there's nothing like those live reps. But Mason was the same way. You can see their helmet stripe. When we watch the all 22, as soon as they get the ball, if they go like this [turns head], not if you're running an outside zone, they're looking too soon. You got to press and then that hole will appear. But if you see that helmet stripe, go there, nine times out of 10, they don't go press where they should. And all of a sudden, we can't get to that second level of defenders to block again. There’s a lot to it. It's not as simple as that. If it were, I don't know what would happen, but it's not that simple."

MY TAKE: Sounds like Guerendo isn't anywhere near ready to play and the 49ers need to bring in a running back from outside the organization.