Isaac Guerendo Pulls Hamstring on First Day of 49ers Training Camp

Guerendo seems like he needs lots of time to develop and learn how to play running back for the 49ers. Fortunately for them, they still have Christian McCaffrey.

Grant Cohn | Jul 25, 2024

May 10, 2024; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Isaac Guerendo (49) runs drills during the 49ers rookie minicamp at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA. Mandatory Credit: Robert Kupbens-USA TODAY Sports / Robert Kupbens-USA TODAY Sports

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San Francisco 49ers

It's been a rough offseason for the 49ers rookies.

First Ricky Pearsall pulled his hamstring while training away from the facility and landed on the Non-Football Injury List. Then Isaac Guerendo pulled his hamstring on the first day of training camp. He will need an MRI to assess the damage. Not ideal.

The 49ers drafted Guerendo in the fourth round because he's a big, strong running back who ran a 4.33 at the NFL Scouting Combine. But he's a track star who wasn't a starting football player in college. He was a backup. So he's a big-time project. And as of now, he seems like he's at least a year away from contributing.

When Guerendo injured his hamstring, he was running between the tackles, he tripped on someone's foot, fell and limped off the field. Not to blame Guerendo on for his injury, but this wasn't the first time he has tripped on a running play. Of all the running backs on the team, he clearly has the worst vision right now. He has trouble finding daylight in the 49ers' zone-blocking scheme.

Don't be surprised if this hamstring injury lingers and the 49ers eventually place Guerendo on season-ending I.R. That's what they did last year with third-round pick Cameron Latu. He struggled in camp, so instead of cutting him, the 49ers shut him down for the season so he could develop.

Guerendo seems like he needs lots of time to develop and learn how to play running back for the 49ers. Fortunately for them, they still have Christian McCaffrey.

Published Jul 25, 2024

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.