The 49ers used the second day of the NFL Draft to add a player to ease Deebo Samuel of some of his workload.
After a rash of injuries at running back at the midpoint of last season, the 49ers moved Samuel, a wide receiver, to the backfield, where he carried the ball anywhere from five to 10 times per game over the final 11 weeks of the season.
The 49ers on Friday selected LSU running back Ty Davis-Price in the third round with the No. 93 overall selection.
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Outside the building, running back might not have ranked high on the list of 49ers' pre-draft needs, but the decision-makers had other ideas.
Davis-Price becomes the third running back the 49ers have selected over the past two drafts.
They went with Ohio State running back Trey Sermon in the third round a year ago. But Sermon fell far short of expectations, and sixth-round pick Elijah Mitchell took over as the team’s top running back after a season-ending injury to Raheem Mostert in Week 1.
Davis-Price joins a running back group that includes Mitchell, Sermon, Jeff Wilson Jr. and JaMycal Hasty.
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The 49ers appear to be in a position where they will not need to call on Samuel to take a significant number of snaps this season in the backfield, where his body took a pounding from running between the tackles.
Now, aside from the usual number of jet sweeps, Samuel figures to line up almost exclusively at wide receiver.
For reasons he has not publicly expressed, Samuel requested a trade from the 49ers this offseason. And while the 49ers fielded trade offers for Samuel on the first day of the draft, the club did not find any offers tempting enough to make a deal.
Now, the 49ers must mend some fences and eventually arrive at a multi-year contract extension that will pay him five to six times more than his scheduled $4 million salary for the upcoming season.
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Davis-Price has 4.48 speed and led LSU in rushing last season with 1,003 yards (6.6-yard average) and six touchdowns. He played last season near 230 pounds but dropped weight to run well at the combine. He is a powerful inside runner, but the 49ers consider him more than just a short-yardage back.
The 49ers’ decision to invest a third-round pick in Davis-Price appears to be a signal that the organization has doubts whether Sermon will be able to find success in the team’s offensive scheme.
As well as Mitchell played last season, he sustained one injury after another and required offseason surgical procedure on a knee condition that bothered him down the stretch.
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