When it's time to start throwing late-round picks at running backs down the depth chart, how about Jeff Wilson? He's in a situation that has long been productive for players at the position, and he's delivered when given the chance. No reason to think it can't happen again.
Obviously, San Francisco has never committed to Wilson in its backfield. Over the last 15 months it's drafted Trey Sermon and Tyrion Davis-Price with third-round picks, and Elijah Mitchell in the sixth. The team still has JaMycal Hasty, and maybe it will even work a wide receiver into the ground game again.
But Wilson shouldn't be disregarded. A story in The Athletic, in fact, notes that if the season began today (which it doesn't, but still), Wilson would be Mitchell's primary backup. The No. 2 running back in San Francisco has regularly started some games over the past few seasons, with the team unable to keep its starter healthy for long.
And Wilson has been pretty productive with his opportunities. Over the last four seasons, he's played at least 40 percent of the snaps 13 times. In those games he's scored 10 touchdowns and averaged 15.5 fantasy points (PPR scoring). He's scored 20 points in five of those contests.
| JEFF WILSON WITH > 40 PERCENT OF THE SNAPS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Att | Yds | Rec | Yds | TD | Pct | PPR |
| 2021 | Atl. | 21 | 110 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 88% | 19.9 |
| 2018 | Den. | 23 | 90 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 86% | 10.6 |
| 2020 | Sea. | 20 | 76 | 3 | 12 | 2 | 83% | 23.8 |
| 2021 | at Ten. | 14 | 45 | 3 | 12 | 1 | 75% | 14.7 |
| 2018 | at Sea. | 15 | 61 | 8 | 73 | 0 | 71% | 21.4 |
| 2020 | at Ari. | 22 | 183 | 1 | 21 | 1 | 70% | 27.4 |
| 2018 | Chi. | 11 | 27 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 69% | 5.8 |
| 2021 | at Cin. | 13 | 56 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 59% | 5.6 |
| 2021 | at Jac. | 19 | 50 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 58% | 6.8 |
| 2020 | at N.E. | 17 | 112 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 56% | 32.0 |
| 2020 | Was. | 11 | 31 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 48% | 11.4 |
| 2020 | Buf. | 7 | 47 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 46% | 7.9 |
| 2020 | at Dal. | 16 | 60 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 46% | 12.0 |
| Avg. | 16 | 73 | 2 | 14 | 0.8 | 66% | 15.5 | |
Presumably the team is hoping Sermon or Davis-Price takes on that No. 2 role, but add Wilson to the long list of late-round dart throws at the running back position. Considerable upside if he takes that job, and not as long a shot as you might expect, either.
--Andy Richardson