Tag: Christian McCaffrey

Panthers great Ryan Kalil forms all-star ownership group to acquire majority stake in pro football team

Former Panthers C Ryan Kalil, with some help from a handful of very familiar names, is now a controlling owner of a pro football team.

Carolina Panthers great Ryan Kalil is back in the game.

As announced on Monday, the former All-Pro center and six-time NBA All-Star Blake Griffin have acquired a majority stake in Fundidores, an American football team based in Monterrey, Mexico.

Kalil and Griffin, also partners in their production company Mortal Media, formed an ownership group comprised of quite a few more all-stars to complete the acquisition—including Julius Peppers, Jonathan Stewart, Greg Olsen, Luke Kuechly, Ron Rivera, Christian McCaffrey, Sam Darnold and George Kittle.

The duo will seek to elevate the league (Liga de Fútbol Americano) and the team, starting with its rebranding as Osos Monterrey.

“Football isn’t just a game—for many of us, it’s defined who we are,” Kalil stated, via an official press release. “This won’t be a passive investment; it’s an opportunity to help grow the game internationally alongside lifelong friends who bring unmatched experience and perspective from playing at the highest level of professional sports.”

In addition, Mortal Media will produce a documentary chronicling the exciting venture.

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Giants star Malik Nabers, 49ers star Christian McCaffrey in attendance for Commanders’ playoff win

Some NFL stars were in town to support different Commanders.

The stars were out on Sunday night for the Washington Commanders’ 23-20 playoff win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Two of Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels’ college teammates and the more famous older brother of rookie wide receiver Luke McCaffrey were in attendance to cheer on Washington’s rookies.

First, there was former NFL offensive player of the year and four-time All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers in town with his parents to cheer on Luke and the Commanders.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DExd51uRPdg/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Here’s another picture of Luke with Christian and their parents, Ed and Lisa.

In town to support Daniels were New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers and Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. The three former LSU stars represent three of the top rookies from the loaded 2024 NFL draft class.

You won’t hear San Francisco fans say anything about McCaffrey supporting his brother. Still, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Giants’ fans were unhappy with Nabers attending a Washington game and supporting a division rival.

Ultimately, it’s no big deal. Nabers wasn’t wearing a Daniels’ jersey and was only in town to support a friend — not a team.

No guarantee breakout offensive star returns to 49ers in 2025

The 49ers have a tough choice at RB.

San Francisco 49ers running backs Christian McCaffrey and Isaac Guerendo had good news on their late-season injuries, and both appear to be on track to be ready for the start of the 2025 season. That doesn’t make the pending decision on Jordan Mason any easier this offseason.

Mason, a 2022 undrafted rookie for San Francisco, is due to hit restricted free agency when the new league year opens.

That means the 49ers can either give him one of three restricted free agent tenders, or choose to not tender him which would allow him to become an unrestricted free agent.

The latter of those two options is likely off the table. San Francisco isn’t going to let Mason walk for nothing after his breakout 2024 campaign when he racked up a career-high 789 yards in 12 games. Which tender they give him will be a more difficult decision.

McCaffrey will be back as the No. 1 RB next season. Guerendo acquitted himself well late in the year when McCaffrey and Mason were both out, but he also dealt with a slew of injury issues when he did finally get regular touches. It stands to reason the 49ers would want to keep Mason since they know he can be highly productive in their offense.

A first-round tender would cost the 49ers an estimated $7,279,000 for the 2025 season according to Over the Cap. The second-round tender is estimated at $5,217,000 for 2025. The right of first refusal tender is estimated at $3,185,000.

Those are all fully-guaranteed one-year deals.

Mason would have the option to find a deal on the open market after receiving a tender, but the 49ers would be able to match any offer he got. If they do a first or second-round tender, the acquiring team would also owe the 49ers a pick in that round of the 2025 draft.

Chances are a second-round tender would be enough to keep other teams from aiming for Mason in free agency. He’s a good player, but unloading a second-round pick to give a long-term contract to a former undrafted rookie RB who dealt with a couple different injuries the prior year isn’t something modern NFL front offices would likely be eager to do.

A second-round tender would make Mason the 18th highest paid RB in the NFL on an average annual value basis. A first-round tender would make him the 14th highest paid RB in the sport. Both of those marks are significant for a player who could enter the season as San Francisco’s No. 3 RB.

The question for the 49ers is whether keeping Mason at $5.217 million or more fits their current financial situation. They could go the route of the right of first refusal tender to make his salary more palatable (27th in AAV among RBs), but it would also make it easier for another team to jump in with a multi-year deal.

Given their need for quality RB depth during Shanahan’s tenure it would seem like retaining Mason should be a priority. The right of first refusal tender appears to make the most sense financially. That also makes it easiest for an RB-needy team to pounce with a long-term contract that puts the 49ers in a bind.

San Francisco could use a first or second-round tender to try and keep teams away, but that also comes with steeper financial ramifications.

The 49ers may have higher priorities than their offensive backfield this offseason, but how they handle Mason could be one of their trickier maneuvers.

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49ers RB Christian McCaffrey provides promising update on knee injury

It looks like Christian McCaffrey will have a full offseason with the San Francisco 49ers.

Christian McCaffrey suffered what turned out to be a season-ending knee injury in the San Francisco 49ers’ Week 13 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

While the PCL sprain that resulted from an awkward landing on the hard turf in snowy Buffalo put McCaffrey on IR, he told reporters at the team’s locker cleanout day Monday that he would have been able to return for the postseason. ESPN’s Nick Wagoner reported McCaffrey is rehabbing at the team facility and is on track to be a full go when the offseason program kicks off.

This isn’t necessarily surprising news since McCaffrey’s injury was given a six-week recovery time. Wild card weekend would have been the sixth week. The good news is McCaffrey didn’t suffer any additional damage or setbacks.

Per Wagoner, McCaffrey also noted his Achilles tendinitis won’t be an issue next year.

Given his injury issues in 2024, any ailment with the 2023 Offensive Player of the Year sends up red flags. He dealt with bilateral Achilles tendinitis that cost him the first eight games of the season. His knee injury cost him the final five contests.

McCaffrey wound up rushing for 202 yards on 50 carries and notching 146 receiving yards on 15 catches. The 49ers offense clearly struggled in his absence and they stumbled badly shortly after his return, so even if he’d stayed healthy through the end of the year it’s unlikely he would have had enough of an impact to turn their disastrous season around.

Getting a fully health McCaffrey would be a massive boost for the 49ers as they try to regain their status as a playoff team in the NFC. Any signs that he’s on track to be in the building for OTAs and a full go for training camp in late July are good for San Francisco.

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Panthers RB Chuba Hubbard named NFC Offensive Player of the Week

Chuba Hubbard has become the first Panther to be named NFC Offensive Player of the Week since 2022.

The breakout season of Carolina Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard continues.

Hubbard has been named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in this past Sunday’s 36-30 win over the Arizona Cardinals. The fourth-year back rushed for 152 yards, one off of the career-high total he set back in Week 10, and two touchdowns—including the walk-off 21-yard score in overtime.

Sunday’s triumphant result proved to be a bit of personal redemption for Hubbard, who fumbled in Carolina’s previous visit to overtime against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers three weeks ago.

“I’ve let it go, but it’s definitely been in the back of my head a little bit,” he said after the victory. “Like I said—when the next opportunity came, I told myself I’ma get it back for them. And to be able to have them trust me in that opportunity again and then have it end that way, just blessings of God.”

Hubbard has now rushed for 1,195 yards and 10 touchdowns on the season. He’s just the third Panther to ever reach both marks in a single season, joining DeAngelo Williams and Christian McCaffrey.

This is the first time a Panther has been named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week since running back D’Onta Foreman captured the honors in Week 16 of the 2022 season.

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Kyle Shanahan optimistic about breakout RB’s return in Week 17 vs. Lions

Isaac Guerendo is on track to return in Week 17.

The injury updates from San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan on Monday weren’t all bad.

Shanahan in a conference call the day after his team was eliminated from the postseason told reporters rookie running back Isaac Guerendo is trending toward a return in Week 17 after missing Week 16 because of a hamstring injury.

That Guerendo was able to avoid a major injury is a good sign for him long-term. It also gives the 49ers’ run game a chance to get going against the Detroit Lions when they visit Levi’s Stadium on Dec. 30 for Monday Night Football.

Guerendo battled through a foot injury to play in the 49ers’ Week 15 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, but he emerged from that game with a hamstring issue that forced him out of Sunday’s game in Miami.

Without Guerendo the 49ers run game struggled. Quarterback Brock Purdy was the team’s leading rusher with 26 yards on four carries. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel added 25 yards on five attempts. Starting RB Patrick Taylor contributed 24 yards on eight carries.

Even though Monday’s game won’t affect the 49ers’ chances to extend their season, the reps will be good for Guerendo who has looked promising in his extended time this year. In four games with double-digit rushing attempts he’s averaged 5.8 yards per carry.

With injuries piling up in the backfield this year, depth at running back needs to be a priority for San Francisco in the offseason. Guerendo’s continued emergence is a positive sign that he’ll be able to contribute next year in either a limited or extended role. He’ll need to finish out the year strong though to give himself a chance to be RB2 behind Christian McCaffrey going into 2025.

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Kyle Shanahan explains how he’ll reinvent 49ers offense in offseason

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan won’t make major changes to his offense, but their will be some.

The San Francisco 49ers need to do something different offensively.

Last season they were one of the best outfits in the NFL. This season they’ve sputtered on that side of the ball. Injuries certainly played a role, but it doesn’t appear that whatever the 49ers have been doing offensively can work without players like Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk available and playing at a high level.

Those struggles, including 10 points in each of Week 12 and 13, followed by a six-point performance in Week 15, have led to questions about the viability of Shanahan’s offense as presently constructed. Shanahan said any adaptations to his offense will be based on what’s best for the team’s personnel.

“That’s what you try to do every single week,” Shanahan said. “That’s what you try to always do. But it’s kind of like the other question when talking about schemes, you don’t just say, ‘Hey, today I’m going to try to run the wishbone offense and stuff.’ It’s what are the players that you have, what do you believe in and what gives those guys the best chance to succeed? For a little bit here, we almost went with the running quarterback, possibly with [Dallas Cowboys QB] Trey [Lance]. You saw a different offense when he got out there.

“You see different things. You’ve got to adjust your players. I know what I want to do. I think we’ve got the players here to do that stuff. But reinventing yourself as you ask, I did that having a mustache this offseason for a little bit. That’s how I would look at that. And I’m totally joking, but it’s when it comes to football, football’s, that’s why I think coaches get a little too much credit too when a really good scheme is putting the players that you have in the best chance they have to max out and do their best. That’s what we’re gonna always try to do. The scheme will change with that.”

It stands to reason in 2025 we’ll see less reliance on McCaffrey given the team’s issues scoring in the red zone without him this season. There’s also likely to be an adjustment to a version of Samuel that hasn’t been able to take over games via screen passes and designed runs.

Whatever changes need to be made on offense for the 49ers, adapting isn’t something new to Shanahan.

“When I got in the league, you see certain things and I ran a certain offense at Houston when I was there, went to Washington, tried to do a real similar offense and it was totally different personnel and I realized I couldn’t run that same thing and I had to adjust and each year was different,” Shanahan said. “Then we got [Washington Commanders former QB] Robert [Griffin III] in there, which was a quarterback who had a running element, then I had to do stuff that I’d never done before. Not because you’re just reinventing yourself or trying to change the league because you’re trying to figure out what can help the guys that you have be successful. And that can change all the time depending on the player’s skillset.

“But, I’d say as a coach that if you want to make it in this league and you want to have some success in this league you better be able to adjust to anything or you’re only going to be successful when you have the perfect situations.”

How Shanahan tweaks his offense to whatever his personnel is after the offseason will be the greatest factor in determining whether the 49ers are able to open another Super Bowl window.

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49ers sustain latest RB injury vs. Chicago Bears

The San Francisco 49ers sustained another injury at running back during their Sunday contest against the Chicago Bears.

The San Francisco 49ers have been dealing with all sorts of injury concerns in their offensive backfield.

Star running back Christian McCaffrey and fellow running back Jordan Mason were each placed on the IR this week. McCaffrey is dealing with a PCL injury while Mason is nursing an ankle injury.

That meant that the 49ers needed to turn to rookie running back Isaac Guerendo on Sunday against the Chicago Bears and for the remainder of the regular season.

Making his first career against the Bears, Guerendo was performing admirably on Sunday. Guerendo tallied 15 carries for 78 rushing yards and rushing scores of 1 and 4 yards. The Louisville product also caught a pair of passes for 50 yards.

With his 128 scrimmage yards against the Bears, Guerendo joined a select list of 49ers with 100-plus scrimmage yards and at least two touchdowns in their first career start.

But, Guerendo exited the 49ers’ game against Chicago with a reported foot injury. Guerendo was listed as questionable to return.

Fourth-year pro Patrick Taylor is operating as the 49ers’ backup running back. Following Guerendo’s injury exit, Taylor promptly reached the end zone on a 3-yard rushing score to extend the 49ers’ commanding lead over the Bears to 38-13.

After the 49ers’ win over the Bears, San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan provided an update on Guerendo’s status.

“We’re not sure. Possible foot sprain. X-rays didn’t for sure show anything, so we’ll have to look into it more tomorrow,” Shanahan said.

Given the 49ers’ running back health situation, Guerendo’s status will be a key storyline heading into Thursday’s date against the Los Angeles Rams.

Who will 49ers backup RB be against the Bears in Week 14?

So, what’s the 49ers RB depth chart look like for Sunday?

The San Francisco 49ers’ exceedingly deep backfield thinned out rapidly when running backs Christian McCaffrey and Jordan Mason both went down with injuries during the team’s Week 13 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

McCaffrey is already on Injured Reserve because of a PCL injury in his knee, and Mason is expected to land there with a high ankle sprain. That leaves rookie running back Isaac Guerendo atop the depth chart with only unproven players behind him.

It stands to reason Guerendo will play a lion’s share of the snaps. If he does, expect RB Patrick Taylor to work in as the backup for now. He was with the team throughout the offseason and played in the team’s first eight games of the regular season. In those contests he primarily contributed on special teams, but he also had seven carries for 25 yards and one reception for 12 yards.

His familiarity with the offense should make him head coach Kyle Shanahan’s trusted No. 2 RB in Sunday’s showdown with the Chicago Bears.

Recently-acquired RB Israel Abanikanda figures to work in as the No. 3 RB behind Taylor. Shanahan on Wednesday said he’s familiar with Abanikanda after scouting him in the 2023 draft.

“I liked him coming out of college,” Shanahan said. “I haven’t studied him a ton in the NFL, but he was a guy that I had good notes on from college and liked. And I know our scouting department thought he was the best guy out there being available and stuff. So in our situation, especially glad to get him here.”

While Shanahan liked him in the draft, that doesn’t mean he’ll automatically step into a huge role. The 49ers on Tuesday claimed him off waivers which means he’s had only three practices with the team. His lack of familiarity with the offense may limit him early and relegate him to a backup role even if Taylor steps into a larger workload.

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Olivia Culpo sends sweet Christian McCaffrey message after his heartbreaking Instagram post

This was sweet.

It’s been a lost year for Christian McCaffrey as too many injuries piled up for the San Francisco 49ers running back.

And as he wrote on Wednesday on Instagram (see below), “This wasn’t my year, and sometimes when it rains, it pours. You can feel sorry for yourself and listen to the birds, or you can hold the line. I’m grateful for the support of everyone in my corner and promise I’ll work smarter and harder than ever to come back better from this. I love my teammates, I love the 9ers, and I love football. God doesn’t miss. Onward.”

At least he knows he has the support of his wife, Olivia Culpo, who wrote a pair of messages on Instagram to him — one on the post below (“I love you so much. So proud of you always”) and one on her own Story:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDLDLkjyr3N/?hl=en

“So proud of you, husband,” she wrote.

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