Niners' Reach for Black: Potential or Reach?

0:00It's April 25th. From kickoff to the final whistle, this is NFL News Today, powered by AI. I'm Cory with the story. The San Francisco 49ers grabbed running back K-Lon Black in the third round, 90th overall pick. He sat at 179th on Dame Brueger's bigboard, 1-07th on the consensus, and 1-07th on PFF's. List. Folks are calling it a reach for a backup-style back from Indiana. It's a six-thier senior, who dealt with a bad knee injury back in 2021. He split carries with Roman Hempi last season, but stayed off the field on passing downs, logging just six targets total. Still, the Niners see potential after their run game struggled last year. Draftniks are scratching their heads, especially since this is the same squad that took Jordan James last year. Maybe they're building a deep back field or eyeing a shift away from Isaac Garendo. Isaac's low usage raises flags, but his contact balance and big play bursts stand out.

1:00Dig into the tape, and Black ranked seventh in expected points added per rush among this class with a solid positive play rate in 3.4. Yards after contact per attempt. He also crushed 11 rushes of 15 yards or more, tying for top marks at 41.6%. On top of that, Black made Bruce Feldman's Freaklist with a 40-inch vertical, 415-pound bench, and over 500 squad. Team mates rave about his explosive power. Looks like the Niners are betting on their raw athleticism to juice their ground attack moving forward.