Who Should I Start? Patrick Taylor Jr. or Raheem Blackshear

Monday, March 10, 4:14 PM

The San Francisco 49ers agreed to an undisclosed one-year contract extension on Monday with running back Patrick Taylor Jr., according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. Taylor will give the Niners additional running back depth behind Christian McCaffrey (knee) and Isaac Guerendo after Elijah Mitchell signed with the Kansas City Chiefs in free agency on Monday. Jordan Mason is a restricted free agent and should also return to the team in 2025 unless he's traded. Taylor, 25, went undrafted out of Memphis before latching on with the Green Bay Packers in 2021. Last year in his first year in the Bay Area, Taylor appeared in 13 games (one start) and had a career-high 183 rushing yards and one touchdown on 39 rushing attempts. He also added three catches for 25 yards in his fourth year in the NFL. One hundred and nine of Taylor's rushing yards in 2024 came late in the year in the win over the Cardinals.

Tuesday, July 1, 9:30 PM

Carolina Panthers running back Raheem Blackshear will "almost exclusively be a special teams player" in 2025 if the team elects to keep a fourth RB around beyond training camp, writes The Charlotte Observer's Alex Zietlow. The Panthers only kept three RBs a year ago. Even with rookie Jonathon Brooks (knee) out for most of last season, Blackshear didn't have a single rushing attempt until Week 16. The 27-year-old will primarily be competing with David Moore, Jimmy Horn Jr. and Hunter Renfrow for a spot on the team's 53-man roster as a return option. The former undrafted free agent in 2022 has had 68 touches for 341 scrimmage yards and three touchdowns on offense for the Panthers in the last three years while adding 66 kickoff returns for 1,734 yards and 23 punt returns for 200 yards. He's off the fantasy radar in the vast majority of leagues.