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San Francisco 49ers running back Isaac Guerendo spent five years at Wisconsin, where he shared running back rooms with Jonathan Taylor and Braelon Allen, before transferring to Louisville, where he split work with Jawhar Jordan in one season with the Cardinals. And when the 49ers selected him with the 129th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, it meant he would be joining a team in which Christian McCaffrey, Elijah Mitchell and Jordan Mason were assured to lock down the top three spots on the depth chart.
However, reigning Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffrey has been dealing with an achilles injury and has yet to make his 2024 debut. Elijah Mitchell was ruled out for the season back in August. And multiple times throughout the season, Jordan Mason has been knocked out of action. This has paved the way for a patient Isaac Guerendo to capitalize on the opportunity.
On Sunday night, after Jordan Mason exited the game, Isaac Guerendo carried the ball 14 times for 85 yards and a touchdown in a win over the Dallas Cowboys. This performance came just two weeks after the rookie entered in relief of an injured Mason against the Seattle Seahawks and rushed for 99 yards in a much-needed divisional win.
After the win, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy was asked about Guerendo's performance, and was eager to heap praise on the rookie running back.
“Extremely happy for him. The way he comes to work every day and stuff and the chip that he has on his shoulder, humble dude,” Purdy said, per 49ers WebZone. “He's always asking questions and wants to make sure he is doing everything right. So for him to do what he's doing right now for our team, I couldn't be happier for him. Being a rookie coming in with some guys on the team and some big names in the huddle and everything, you can sort of be awestruck in a sense, but he's coming in, he doesn't care.”
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan likes what he's seeing from Guerendo
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan secured his 68th career win on Sunday night, moving within four victories of passing Buck Shaw for the 3rd-most in 49ers franchise history. He got that win in large part because of the steady progress Isaac Guerendo has been making since he arrived in San Francisco.
“I thought he did a great job. He came in, he was ready to go,” Shanahan said after the game. “We go pretty hard on him. And then you watch how he takes that to practice and everything we've really kind of been pushing him with, he's been real coachable, he's not a sensitive guy, he's real detailed and he's very poised for a rookie. Things aren't too big for him and didn't get a lot of preseason, but once he got healthy there and throughout this year, I feel he's gotten better each week.”
Getting better every week has been the name of the game for Isaac Guerendo. And with a stacked running back room behind him, he'll continue to work hard and soak up as much knowledge as he can while he's continuing to get his shot.
“There's always room for improvement,” Guerendo said in his post-game presser. Being able to re-watch this and fix those small things – all those small details. We have a great [running back] room. Being able to ask any of those guys questions has been a very big thing for me obviously being the rookie in the room. I'm grateful for them, grateful for my coach and I appreciate all of them.”
