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Will 49ers Draft Arizona State RB Cam Skattebo on Day 2 of NFL Draft?

Skattebo could replace Jordan Mason as the 49ers' bruiser in the backfield while giving the offense another receiving threat.

Grant Cohn

Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo (4) escapes a tackle by Texas defensive lineman Alfred Collins (95) during the fourth quarter in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025.
Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo (4) escapes a tackle by Texas defensive lineman Alfred Collins (95) during the fourth quarter in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. / Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Suddenly, the 49ers need a running back.

They just traded Jordan Mason who was their leading rusher last year. Now they have Isaac Guerendo who carried the ball 84 times last season, and Christian McCaffrey who carried it 50 times.

Both McCaffrey and Guerendo have extensive injury histories. Neither can be counted on to play 17 games next season. Which means the 49ers almost certainly will spend an early draft pick on a running back who can carry a heavy workload if necessary, preferably one who's a good receiver like McCaffrey and Guerendo.

That's why the 49ers could fall in love with Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo.

Skattebo is similar to McCaffrey in the sense that he's extremely versatile. He gained 1,711 rushing yards and 605 receiving yards in college last season.

But Skattebo is much stronger than McCaffrey. In fact, Skattebo's running style is reminiscent of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers fullback Mike Alstott. Like Alstott, Skattebo has extremely good contact balance and is quite difficult to tackle.

That's another reason why the 49ers could fall in love with him. Running backs coach Bobby Turner should appreciate his decisive running style because Turner was the one who coached Alstott at Purdue in the early 90s.

Skattebo could replace Jordan Mason as the 49ers' bruiser in the backfield while giving the offense another receiving threat.

Don't be surprised if the 49ers trade for Skattebo in Round 3. They traded for Guerendo in Round 4 last year. They like to trade up for running backs.

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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.

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