Kyle Shanahan not giving anything away when it comes to Christian McCaffrey
By Max Weisman
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey has been out for the entire season with an Achilles injury, missing all of training camp but returning to practice before Week 1. He hasn't played a snap of football through the 49ers' first eight games.
McCaffrey returned to practice Wednesday for the first time since just before the season began, clearing a path for him to play on Sunday. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is keeping McCaffrey's status for Sunday close to his chest.
“That he’s just Christian McCaffrey and he’s not hurting,” Shanahan said. “But as long as everything goes well, it has in the rehab. So, just as long as he doesn’t get sore and have setbacks each day with practice, usually if you get that in practice, that means it’s going to be worse in the game. So hopefully he can string together three days in a row and not have any of those.”
First extended look at Christian McCaffrey back at 49ers practice pic.twitter.com/fVMMDzUMzS
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) November 6, 2024
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Shanahan joked with reporters that McCaffrey's status will be made public at kickoff of the 49ers game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, indicating we won't know until the last minute. He also said if McCaffrey does play his workload is yet to be determined.
It's still unclear how McCaffrey suffered his injury, but Shanahan dismissed that it was because McCaffrey played in a career high 19 games last season, including the playoffs. The 49ers need McCaffrey back. San Francisco sits at 4-4, a half game behind the 5-4 Arizona Cardinals for first place in the NFC West, but a half game ahead of the 4-5 Seattle Seahawks, who sit in last place.
The Niners season could still go either way, and a return of the defending NFL Offensive Player of the Year could swing them in a positive direction.
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