49ers Sign Running Back Wayne Gallman

Gallman will join the 49ers' running back committee, which already features Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr.

Grant Cohn | Apr 21, 2021

The 49ers just filled their hole at running back.

They announced they signed former New York Giants running back Wayne Gallman to a one-year deal. The terms of the contract have not yet been released.

Gallman will join the 49ers' running back committee, which already features Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr. Gallman replaces Tevin Coleman, who signed with the New York Jets this offseason.

Gallman, 26, played his college ball at Clemson with Deshaun Watson. He was a fourth-round pick in 2017 -- the Giants took him 19 spots after the 49ers took running back Joe Williams, who never appeared in an NFL game.

Gallman mostly was a backup his first three seasons in the NFL. But in 2020, he started 10 games after Saquon Barkley tore his ACL, scored six touchdowns, gained 682 rushing yards and averaged 4.6 yards per carry. Surprisingly good numbers for a career backup.

Gallman is an upright runner who's not built to carry the ball more than 150 times per season. But he won't have to shoulder the load on the 49ers. He can split it with Mostert and Wilson, and the three of them can become a terrific trio of backs. One of the best in the NFL.

Assuming Gallman is cheap, this is a good signing. Because he's talented and young, and now the 49ers don't have to spend a draft pick on a running back. They can spend their picks on other positions of need, such as cornerback, safety and offensive line.

Published Apr 21, 2021

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.