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PFF: Christian McCaffrey is the 49ers' Make-or-Break Player this Year

Most of all, Christian McCaffrey needs to be special.
Grant Cohn|
Jun 11, 2025; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey speaks to the media following a team OTA at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images
Jun 11, 2025; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey speaks to the media following a team OTA at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images | D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

The 49ers have so many players who need to step up this year.

Brandon Aiyuk needs to make a speedy recovery from knee surgery. Brock Purdy needs to bounce back from a down season. Trent Williams needs to stay healthy. George Kittle needs to stay in his prime. And five or six rookies on defense need to play like veterans.

But most of all, Christian McCaffrey needs to be special. Because if he's merely good, he won't be good enough to carry the 49ers to the Super Bowl the way he did in 2023. And if he's injured, they could miss the playoffs entirely.

That's why Pro Football Focus says McCaffrey is the 49ers' make-or-break player this year.

"Just one year removed from being arguably the best running back in football, McCaffrey endured a disaster of a 2024 season," writes PFF's Dalton Wasserman. "He appeared in just four games due to injury and earned a career-low 71.3 PFF overall grade.

"If McCaffrey performs like the player who was the highest-graded qualified running back in the NFL across 2022 and 2023, then San Francisco has a playoff-caliber offense. If the injuries persist or have sapped his explosiveness, there will be serious questions about McCaffrey’s future."

McCaffrey is a good reminder of how quickly running backs can age. At 27-years old, he seemed like he was just entering his prime, not ending it. But at 28, he fell apart. And and 29, he trying to show that he has something left. If he struggles this year, who knows where he'll be at 30?

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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