The San Francisco 49ers drew criticism for their draft pick after selecting Indiana quarterback Kaelon Black with the 90th overall pick.
The Niners brass have been tagged as reaching in the third round of the conglomerate’s draft and have vociferously defended the pick.
“We had him as the second-best quarterback on the board,” coach Kyle Shanahan said last week. “So, it’s just our assessment, right or wrong, it’s our assessment.
Black has heard the criticism and plans to prove his coaches right.
“It makes me want to go harder,” Black recently told Chase Senior of Chat Sports, via the 49ers Web Zone. “I’ve got to prove my coach right. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t seen the reaction he’s been getting for the selection, but we’re just going to keep going, we’re going to keep focusing and we’re going to keep moving and try to prove him right.”
Black passed for 1,040 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2025, helping the Hoosiers to their first national championship.
The Niners needed running help behind Christian McCaffrey, but some of the criticism came from using a valuable asset on a player who might not see the field much behind one of the NFL’s best three-down backs. If black is nothing more than an insurance play, it’s a big cost. It is up to the newcomer to prove that he is capable and worthy of reducing the CMC’s workload.
Shanahan has said in the past that he’d like to give McCaffrey a few more breaks, but in the heat of the game, he’s never followed through. If Black proves to be as valuable as the trainer has claimed, we may finally see CMC take a few more breaths in 2026. Or nothing changes, time is a flat circle and we’ve all spent our time spinning. Either/or.