The 49ers have reached an agreement with running back Shaun Draughn on a one-year contract, agent Sean Stellato tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The deal comes less than a week after new Niners head coach Chip Kelly said he’d like to re-sign Draughn.
[RELATED: 49ers sign DT Quinton Dial to extension]
Draughn, 28, started the season with the Browns and finished it on the 49ers’ injured reserve list. In between though, he acted as San Francisco’s feature back for six games when Carlos Hyde was injured. In those six contests, Draughn ran for 263 yards and a touchdown on 76 carries, adding another 175 yards through the air on 25 catches.
Draughn had been eligible for restricted free agency, so the one-year deal with the 49ers makes sense. The short-term pact will allow the running back to become eligible for unrestricted free agency next winter.
While the financial terms of Draughn’s new contract aren’t yet known, a number to keep in mind is $1.671MM — that’s the value of this year’s low-end RFA tender, which the team would have had to assign to the North Carolina product before next Wednesday to keep him from becoming an unrestricted free agent. We’ll have to wait to see how the value of Draughn’s one-year pact compares to that figure.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.