I haven’t yet seen contract information for Wayne Gallman, but it will be interesting to see what the 49ers are paying him. To me, he looks for now like the possible No. 1 back on that roster.
Gallman, a former fourth-round pick, didn’t reach his full potential with the Giants, but they didn’t give him too many chances to play. When he got on the field, he was able to do some good things. He ran for 94 yards and a touchdown to help the Giants win at Cincinnati last year, and a week later he ran for 135 yards in an upset win at Seattle.
Gallman ran for 1,444 yards in four years with lesser New York teams, averaging 4.3 yards per carry.
He got going pretty good in the second half of last year (this after injuries to both Saquon Barkley and Devonta Freeman). In the team’s final eight games, Gallman ran for 528 yards, averaging 4.8 yards per attempt. Looking at the final eight games for each team, only seven running backs ran for more yards.
| 400-PLUS YARDS IN FINAL EIGHT GAMES | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Att | Yards | Avg | TD |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | 196 | 1,184 | 6.0 | 9 |
| Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 126 | 753 | 6.0 | 8 |
| Nick Chubb, Cle. | 133 | 732 | 5.5 | 8 |
| Dalvin Cook, Min. | 168 | 699 | 4.2 | 4 |
| Aaron Jones, G.B. | 111 | 657 | 5.9 | 4 |
| David Montgomery, Chi. | 130 | 628 | 4.8 | 8 |
| Melvin Gordon, Den. | 119 | 593 | 5.0 | 5 |
| Wayne Gallman, NYG | 110 | 528 | 4.8 | 4 |
| J.K. Dobbins, Balt. | 82 | 508 | 6.2 | 7 |
| James Robinson, Jac. | 108 | 490 | 4.5 | 3 |
| Josh Jacobs, L.V. | 112 | 477 | 4.3 | 6 |
| Cam Akers, LAR | 110 | 477 | 4.3 | 3 |
| Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 91 | 461 | 5.1 | 13 |
| Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 112 | 458 | 4.1 | 2 |
| Ronald Jones, T.B. | 75 | 449 | 6.0 | 4 |
| Kenyan Drake, Ariz. | 120 | 443 | 3.7 | 6 |
| Jeff Wilson, S.F. | 88 | 437 | 5.0 | 5 |
| Miles Sanders, Phil. | 93 | 433 | 4.7 | 3 |
| Antonio Gibson, Was. | 80 | 404 | 5.1 | 6 |
The 49ers have Raheem Mostert, but he’s a leaner guy who’s had problems staying healthy. Beyond him, they have a whole bunch of unheralded lesser guys, like Jeff Wilson.
San Francisco potentially could draft a running back, next week, of course. But as it stands now, I would expect there will be weeks that Gallman both starts and puts up good numbers.
—Ian Allan