Tag: Christian McCaffrey return

What did Christian McCaffrey do, how much did he play in return for 49ers?

Christian McCaffrey looked good in his return for the 49ers.

The San Francisco 49ers got a little closer to complete Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when running back Christian McCaffrey returned to the lineup.

It wasn’t a perfect day for the 49ers’ offense, but McCaffrey looked mostly like himself and had an immediate impact for San Francisco.

McCaffrey played 89 percent of the offensive snaps according to CBS Sports’ Dave Richard. He churned out 39 rushing yards on 13 carries, and hauled in six of his seven targets for 68 yards.

The 49ers’ offensive line struggled some against Tampa Bay’s defensive line and led to a handful of carries where McCaffrey didn’t have much room.

Despite the lack of rushing production, McCaffrey’s presence in the passing game made life easier for quarterback Brock Purdy, who made a handful of checkdown throws to McCaffrey instead of taking off running or forcing a throw into a tight window down the field.

He was also on the receiving end of a huge completion in the fourth quarter. With the 49ers trailing 17-13, McCaffrey was matched up one-on-one in coverage and had a step on his defender. Purdy was under pressure and had to throw early. He lofted a pass into the area ahead of McCaffrey, allowing the RB to race underneath it for a 30-yard completion.

That was the kind of play the 49ers weren’t able to run with Jordan Mason or Isaac Guerendo. And even if they ran it, Purdy likely wouldn’t have had the trust with one of them to air out a throw the way he did.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan after the game told reporters McCaffrey also made it through the game without any issues.

“He came out great, which was huge,” Shanahan said. “We knew it was going to be hard to load manage him, I think everyone says in the media, I just say not play him as much. We did that in the first half, we did a couple series and stuff, in the second half it got away from us a little bit. We only had one drive in that whole third quarter – didn’t have as many possessions and we weren’t taking him out on the fourth, and he didn’t need to be taken out, talking to him, he felt great. Going to be pumped to have him back next week.”

San Francisco isn’t out of the woods just because McCaffrey returned. They still struggled in the red zone, which was an area the reigning Offensive Player of the Year figured to help. He wasn’t much of a factor there, and Guerendo even got in for a couple of red zone snaps.

That’s something the 49ers and McCaffrey will need to iron out. For now they benefitted from his return enough to earn a win in Tampa Bay. They may need more down the stretch if they’re going to make a playoff run this season.

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When is Christian McCaffrey coming back for 49ers?

Here’s the potential timeline for Christian McCaffrey’s return.

All signs point to running back Christian McCaffrey returning for the San Francisco 49ers shortly after their Week 9 Bye.

But what exactly does McCaffrey’s timeline look like?

Nothing will happen officially until the 49ers’ Bye week ends. They’re technically off through Sunday. They’ll have a bonus practice Monday and head coach Kyle Shanahan said the hope is to have McCaffrey on the field for that practice.

In order to get McCaffrey back for that session, the 49ers will have to open his 21-day practice window Monday. That’s when we can expect that official announcement.

Since the team isn’t holding any Bye week practices, McCaffrey will be ramping up his rehab with simulated workouts during the week off to ensure his Achilles responds well before joining a live practice.

What’ll be interesting is whether McCaffrey can get ready to return with one full week of practice.

He’d get Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to participate before playing in the 49ers’ Week 10 showdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

If he needs just one week of practice, which is the same amount of time wide receiver Ricky Pearsall needed for his ramp up, the team would officially activate him off IR on Saturday, Nov. 9. If he’s not activated then, it means he’ll need to wait at least another week.

If his 21-day window opens Monday, as expected, it means the 49ers will have until Nov. 25 to either activate him or place him on season-ending IR.

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USA TODAY has intriguing idea for how 49ers can use offensive superstar

Could something of a position change be coming for Christian McCaffrey?

There are clear ways the return of running back Christian McCaffrey will help the San Francisco 49ers.

They’ve been one of the most efficient offenses in the NFL through eight weeks. They’re No. 2 in the league in yards per play and No. 2 in percentage of drives that end in a score. Despite that, they’re No. 8 in total scoring because they’ve struggled to find the end zone.

McCaffrey’s return should help them dramatically in that area. However, they’ll have to be judicious in the way they deploy the reigning Offensive Player of the Year. That’s where USA TODAY’s Nate Davis offered an interesting idea for how the 49ers can use McCaffrey.

In his weekly power rankings, Davis called for something of a position change for McCaffrey:

If Christian McCaffrey and his Achilles issues are indeed on the other side of this week’s bye, you wonder if the Niners should maybe deploy him more heavily in the slot to bolster a weakened receiver corps and let RBs Jordan Mason and Isaac Guerendo continue doing their spectacular work out of the backfield.

This is an interesting idea!

McCaffrey’s Achilles tendinitis will require a little bit of management from the 49ers, meaning they’re unlikely to be able to lean on him for 21-plus touches per game like they did last year.

Using McCaffrey as a receiver isn’t a novel idea. He lined up in the slot or out wide on 17.7 percent of his snaps last season, and averaged 11.1 snaps at those two spots per game.

Perhaps if the 49ers want to lighten McCaffrey’s overall workload without removing him from the field, they can utilize him as a receiver on something closer to 30 percent of his snaps. From there they can sprinkle in Mason and Guerendo to ensure they’re getting touches for the other players in their backfield as well.

At the same time, they’d be taking some of the onus off of WRs Chris Conley, Ricky Pearsall, Jacob Cowing and Ronnie Bell to be playmakers in the passing game.

Don’t be surprised if the 49ers utilize some form of this strategy once McCaffrey returns. It may not be a 30 percent snap rate at receiver, but we can expect an uptick in his playing time at that spot as the club tries to ensure they’re keeping him as healthy as possible to try and make a playoff run.

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Kyle Shanahan hints at when Christian McCaffrey will return for 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers may get the reigning Offensive Player of the Year back soon.

The news around wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk’s season-ending knee injury during the San Francisco 49ers’ 28-18 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs seems to have the 49ers at a new rock bottom for the 2024 season.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Monday in his conference call with reporters provided a potential bit of optimism when he was asked about running back Christian McCaffrey’s rehab process. McCaffrey has been dealing with Achilles tendinitis since Week 17 of last season.

Shanahan said McCaffrey is still working through rehab, but that the reigning Offensive Player of the Year hasn’t suffered any setbacks, and that his return may be on the horizon.

“Christian’s still progressing through his rehab,” Shanahan said. “He hasn’t had any setbacks, so it’s been all good news so far. I’d be surprised to get him back this week. But hopefully the Bye week will go well and have a much better chance there right after the Bye week.”

Getting McCaffrey back after the Bye might just be enough to save the 49ers’ season.

If they can beat the Dallas Cowboys in Week 8, it would put San Francisco at 4-4 going into its week off. McCaffrey’s return should help the ailing 49ers offense and put them in position to go on some kind of run the way they did in 2022 when they won 10 of 11 games after acquiring the RB in a trade with the Panthers.

This is the first time Shanahan has given anything even close to an expected timeline for return from McCaffrey, which is a good sign that he’s making progress in his recovery.

RB Jordan Mason has filled in admirably for McCaffrey, but the 49ers’ offense has struggled in a couple of key ways while missing McCaffrey’s versatility. Getting him back in the fold for the final nine games would be a major boost to a team that is desperately looking for something to go right on the health front.

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