Sermon rushed nine times for 26 yards (2.9 YPC) and caught both of his targets for 14 yards in Saturday's 19-16 loss to the Chiefs.
Sermon couldn't get much going on the ground in his preseason debut, and he did fumble once, though 49ers left tackle Colton McKivitz jumped on it. The third-round pick out of Ohio State has been making a case in training camp to be the 1B behind Raheem Mostert, a 29-year-old speedster with a troubling injury history. Saturday's dud shouldn't be considered a setback to Sermon's plan, but he'll need to show more moving forward to truly separate from Wayne Gallman and JaMycal Hasty.