The San Francisco 49ers have won six of their first seven games despite a revolving door of injuries, but that luck took a hit right before the bye week.
Star running back Christian McCaffrey left the 49ers’ 29-20 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 7 with what head coach Kyle Shanahan called a “mild” hamstring strain. He didn’t practice on Wednesday ahead of Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
San Francisco has promising rookie Kaelan Black to lean on if McCaffrey can’t go, but the team could look to address its running back depth ahead of the Nov. 10 trade deadline. And the 49ers are suddenly being connected to arguably the biggest name on the trade block right now.
Colts RB Jonathan Taylor Linked to 49ers Via Trade
NBC Sports’ Chris Simms said on Thursday’s “PFT Live” that some in league circles are wondering whether the 49ers could make a play for Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio doesn’t think the idea is as far-fetched as it sounds.
Simms is close friends with 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, and many think he often has inside intel that he usually doesn’t.
“A Taylor-to-49ers trade would be jarring,” Florio wrote. “It would be unexpected. As jarring and unexpected as the news that emerged on a Thursday night in October 2022, when word first broke of the 49ers’ trade with the Panthers for running back Christian McCaffrey.
“A trade for Taylor would create obvious questions regarding McCaffrey. Taylor has $3.87 million remaining in base salary (after Week 9, it drops to $3.49 million). McCaffrey has a 2026 cap number of $10.861 million. While that’s low enough to keep the duo together for the rest of the season, things would change in 2027.”
The Colts opened the door to trading Taylor on Oct. 31, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. That came after they had already shipped out guard Quenton Nelson and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, who the 49ers acquired for a fifth-round pick.
The Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants, Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks, and Cincinnati Bengals have all been linked to Taylor, a three-time Pro Bowler.
Landing him won’t come cheap. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that executives believe Taylor is worth a second-round pick plus another selection.
Why Taylor Makes Sense for the 49ers
Shanahan made it clear this offseason that he didn’t want McCaffrey having another 400-touch season. That came after the 30-year-old led the league with 413 touches in 2025 on his way to NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
So far, the plan has worked. McCaffrey has 91 carries for 428 yards and nine touchdowns through seven games, along with 40 catches for 312 yards. Black, a rookie third-rounder, has also taken some of the load off his plate.
“He earned in training camp to be our No. 2 back,” Shanahan said of Black.
Taylor would be a different animal though. The 27-year-old has run for 610 yards and eight touchdowns on 148 carries (4.1 yards per carry) behind a Colts offense that’s been gutted at the deadline.
Since he entered the league in 2020, only Derrick Henry has more yards from scrimmage among running backs.
Pairing the two would also let Shanahan move McCaffrey around more as a pass-catcher. That may no longer be a luxury but a necessity with wide receivers Mike Evans (Achilles), Deebo Samuel (hamstring), and De’Zhaun Stribling (deltoid) all banged up. McCaffrey had nine catches against the Washington Commanders and six more in Atlanta.
Fitting Taylor in this season is easy. Where it gets tricky is 2027. McCaffrey’s cap number jumps to $26.4 million with no guaranteed money in the final year of his deal. Taylor would count for more than $16 million under the two-year, $44 million extension he signed in August.
However, for a 6-1 team with Super Bowl aspirations, a 1-2 punch of McCaffrey and Taylor down the stretch might be worth the cost of doing business.
Major News Emerges on Potential 49ers-Jonathan Taylor Trade