The Vision for Acquiring Christian McCaffrey is Coming to Fruition for the 49ers
2022 wasn't off to a hot start for the San Francisco 49ers.
The offense was a shell of themselves from what they were in 2021, which was basically to run the football effectively and get Deebo Samuel heavily involved. Samuel was nothing short of special that year as he carried the 49ers' offense to the playoffs.
Unfortunately, Samuel was nowhere near his 2021 version in 2022. Part of that was due to being out of shape, while another part was because defenses were doing a better job defending against him. His main use that year was as a decoy to free others up, which wasn't enough for the 49ers. They needed Samuel to be a main feature for them if the offense was to ever reach its peak.
That is when the 49ers pulled the trigger to acquire Christian McCaffrey. He was going to be the one to lead the offense and hopefully would get Samuel back to his 2021 self. That is the vision that I believe the 49ers had in wanting McCaffrey. It was to bring in a phenomenal talent, while also getting Samuel back to being a unicorn again. Well, Samuel still wasn't much of a main feature in the offense. He still had influence as a decoy with his motions and such, but the plays he made in 2021 weren't there in 2022 even with McCaffrey.
Flip the page to Week 14 of the 2023 season, and you will see that the vision the 49ers had for acquiring McCaffrey is coming to fruition. Samuel has been turning it up ever since the Bye week, but really has taken his game back to his 2021 unicorn version since the Eagles game. In the 49ers' last three games, Samuel and McCaffrey have been a two-headed monster by combining for 797 total yards and nine touchdowns. That is what the 49ers wanted last year.
They wanted two unstoppable players that made defenses restless throughout the week leading up to the game. Last year, it was only McCaffrey who was that since he impacted the game both with and without the ball. Now, Samuel is joining McCaffrey by having that similar impact. The vision is coming to fruition over a year later, which cannot have arrived at a more perfect time.
San Francisco now has 2021 All-Pro Samuel, MVP candidates in McCaffrey and Brock Purdy, a peaking Brandon Aiyuk, and George Kittle as an anchor. It's an abundance of supreme talent on the 49ers offense. Should one or two of these players get slowed down or even erased in a game, it won't matter because the 49ers have others that can carry. They're now at the point where they are expected to win the Super Bowl, which is obviously part of their vision as well in acquiring McCaffrey last year.
This team is on an unstoppable run now with Samuel turning it back to 2021.
