How the 49ers are protecting Christian McCaffrey from himself

McCaffrey is being extra cautious.

Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

One of the biggest debates over the past 48 hours is what is wrong with Christian McCaffrey. The San Francisco 49ers star running back appeared to be healthy this summer after a long and injury-riddled 2024 season. However, just a day before the start of the season, McCaffrey has popped up on the injury report with the same injury that sidelined him last season.

Are the San Francisco 49ers protecting Christian McCaffrey from himself?

To make matters even worse, the 49ers were optimistic that McCaffrey would play up until a day or two before the start of the season, and then he sat out for an extended period. The odd sense of deja vu cannot be underdiscussed. 

One big difference is that McCaffrey had this issue nagging with him all of last offseason, and this year, it was not nearly the headline. Beyond that, it appears San Francisco has gone out of their way to protect McCaffrey this offseason. 

Earlier this offseason, Kyle Shanahan said that the team is on a mission to protect McCaffrey from himself. Shanahan said that McCaffrey was on a plan to do a lot less this offseason in an effort to save him.

McCaffrey did not play at all this preseason. Even more than that, there are multiple videos of him riding a motorized scooter to and from the locker room after practices. It appears as though the team is going out of its way to ensure he stays healthy, and Shanahan even admitted to it. 

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A few videos had surfaced of McCaffrey looking pretty smooth and pushing his calf early into the practice session. He did not participate or work out with the team, but it would be a surprise if he was putting that much stress on a newly injured calf. 

McCaffrey may have reported soreness, and the 49ers are now going above and beyond to ensure that the soreness does not lead to anything more, rather than McCaffrey actually being hurt. 

McCaffrey may be healthy enough to be a full participant on days when he is limited, and he may sit out entirely on days when he is healthy enough to be limited. This may be how San Francisco protects him from himself. 

Of course, this is only based on what we have seen and what McCaffrey and Shanahan have told us, so nothing is certain. However, if McCaffrey plays Sunday, you may want to expect a season full of missed practices from the star runner.