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Will the 49ers Trade Christian McCaffrey at the Deadline?

Even if McCaffrey plays well next season, the 49ers could struggle.

Grant Cohn

Nov 10, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) catches the ball over Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David (54) during the second half at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
Nov 10, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) catches the ball over Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David (54) during the second half at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
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Bill Walsh used to say it's better to get rid of a player a year too early rather than a year too late.

When it comes to Christian McCaffrey, it may already be too late to move him. He missed 13 games last season due to bilateral Achilles tendonitis and a torn PCL. In June, he'll turn 29, and he's one of the most expensive running backs in the NFL. The 49ers probably wouldn't get much for him right now if they wanted to trade him.

But they don't want to trade him. Not yet, at least. They just re-signed fullback Kyle Juszczyk and want to make one more run with their aging core of veterans.

And McCaffrey is a huge reason the 49ers hope they will contend next season. They just lost nine starters and replaced absolutely none of them with free agents. So they need McCaffrey to make all the difference in 2025.

But even if McCaffrey plays well next season, the 49ers could struggle. Their defense currently is decimated and could start four or five rookies depending on how their draft shakes out. Plus quarterback Brock Purdy is coming off a down season and could miss some or all of training camp if he holds out while he waits for a contract extension. The 49ers are notorious for taking a long time to finalize those big deals.

So if McCaffrey is playing well but the 49ers are not, don't be surprised if they trade him midseason. Because realistically, the 49ers will not be Super Bowl contenders next season, and they know it. That's why they're taking on so much dead cap space this year.

They just hope to make the playoffs.

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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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