After a breakout preseason performance, rookie Jordan James emerges as the physical, high-upside solution to lighten Christian McCaffrey’s heavy workload and keep the veteran superstar fresh.
There wasn't much for the San Francisco 49ers to take from the night their season ended in Seattle.
Jordan James might have been one of the exceptions.
The rookie running back had barely seen the field on offense before San Francisco's 41-6 Divisional Round loss finally gave him an opportunity. James carried six times for 28 yards, offering a small glimpse of a player Kyle Shanahan would later admit he probably should have used more.
Seven months later … James finally gave him another one.
James made his 2026 preseason debut Thursday after missing much of training camp with a rib injury, rushing eight times for 35 yards and adding a 20-yard reception in San Francisco's 18-12 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
Nine touches. Fifty-five yards.
No, that's not enough to suddenly rearrange the 49ers' backfield.
It might be enough to start wondering whether James can help solve one of Shanahan's bigger problems.
How do you get Christian McCaffrey off the field without desperately wanting him back on it?
"I thought he ran real hard and ran real well," Shanahan told reporters after the game.
That's particularly notable because Shanahan entered the offseason already wishing he'd seen more of James.
"Jordan James came on really strong at the end of last year," Shanahan said in March. "I wish I would have got him on the field more than I did."
Now James has an opportunity to make sure that doesn't happen again.
And the 49ers have plenty of incentive to let him try.
McCaffrey is 30 years old and coming off another enormous workload. He carried the ball 311 times for 1,202 yards during the 2025 regular season, eventually reaching 450 touches between the regular season and playoffs.
San Francisco doesn't need to stop giving the ball to one of its best offensive players.
It probably shouldn't need to give it to him 450 times, either.
Shanahan has already acknowledged San Francisco needs to find more help for McCaffrey, and the competition between James and rookie Kaelon Black could finally give him options.
"We'd like to get those guys carries," offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said before the Raiders game. "And to me, if you can get multiple backs touches in a game, that's a sign that you're running the ball well."
James still has to earn his place in that equation.
Black certainly hasn't made the decision easy, rushing four times for 28 yards against Las Vegas after making his own case throughout the preseason.
Shanahan has also pushed back on the idea of forcing three running backs into a regular rotation, saying after Thursday's game there would need to be a "big reason" to do it.
So no … one productive preseason game doesn't suddenly make James McCaffrey's co-star.
That's not really the standard he needs to reach.
Five or six productive touches could matter if they're five or six touches McCaffrey doesn't have to absorb.
Five fewer hits for McCaffrey. Five chances to keep San Francisco's 30-year-old star fresh. Five opportunities for James to prove Shanahan doesn't need to completely change the offense whenever No. 23 comes off the field.
James gave the 49ers their first glimpse in Seattle.
Thursday gave them another.
If the next one comes when the games actually count … Shanahan might finally have a reason to give James the opportunities he wishes he'd given him a year ago.
