Adam Schefter dropped the news Sunday afternoon: the 49ers are signing veteran running back Khalil Herbert. It's a one-year deal, and on its face it looks like a minor camp transaction. It isn't. San Francisco is barely a week into training camp and already dealing with a running back room that's thinner than anyone wanted it to be.
49ers have signed veteran RB Khalil Herbert.
Herbert isn't a household name outside of Chicago, but he's got real NFL mileage. The 28-year-old spent 2021-24 with the Bears after going in the 6th round out of Virginia Tech, then bounced through Cincinnati and, most recently, the Jets in 2025. Career-wise he's logged 63 games with 416 carries for 1,957 yards and 9 touchdowns -- a proven change-of-pace back, not a project. Last season was quiet, though: just 16 carries for 52 yards in 7 games with New York.
The timing tells the real story. Second-year back Jordan James, who was fighting to be the primary backup behind Christian McCaffrey, fractured his ribs at camp and is expected to miss time. Isaac Guerendo, meanwhile, opened camp on the physically unable to perform list. That's two of the top depth options behind McCaffrey unavailable at the same time -- exactly the kind of gap a front office can't just wait out.
McCaffrey himself is reportedly healthy and entrenched as the workhorse, which matters given how much San Francisco's offense lives and dies with him on the field. But NFL teams don't run one-back systems in August. Every camp needs bodies who can take live reps, and right now the Niners didn't have enough of them who weren't hurt.
Herbert gives the room a veteran who can step in immediately without needing an adjustment period -- he's started games, he knows how to pass-protect, and he won't need a crash course on NFL speed. Whether he sticks past final cuts depends on how James and Guerendo recover, but for now he's insurance the 49ers clearly felt they needed.
It's a low-cost, low-risk move that says a lot about where San Francisco's depth chart stands right now. Worth watching how the reps shake out once pads really come on -- and whether this is the last move the Niners make at running back before the season starts.