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Christian McCaffrey Reports to 49ers Minicamp

The Offensive Player of the Year is back in the building.
Grant Cohn|
Jul 27, 2023; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) runs on the field during training camp at the SAP Performance Facility. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 27, 2023; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) runs on the field during training camp at the SAP Performance Facility. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports | Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports

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San Francisco 49ers

The Offensive Player of the Year is back in the building.

Christian McCaffrey has reported to 49ers mandatory minicamp according to reports. Had he not reported, the 49ers would have fined him. McCaffrey recently skipped the team's OTAs, which are voluntary, but there's speculation that he wants to renegotiate his contract which he signed with the Panthers in 2020.

When asked why McCaffrey skipped OTAs, head coach Kyle Shanahan declined to explain, while running backs coach Bobby Turner said that McCaffrey's absence had to do with business.

It seems likely that McCaffrey is unhappy with his contract but not unhappy with the 49ers, so he sent them a subtle message without seeming emotional or greedy. If anyone asks why he missed OTAs, he can say he was preparing for his wedding, but the 49ers got the message. I'm guessing they'll give him some guaranteed money for this year and next year before the season starts.

The big question is whether Brandon Aiyuk will show up. Aiyuk has gone public with his displeasure that the 49ers haven't given him the contract extension he's looking for, and he skipped OTAs, too. I'm guessing he'll skip minicamp as well because that's what Nick Bosa did last year when he was negotiating an extension with the 49ers. And he still got his deal.

So if Aiyuk skips minicamp, that doesn't mean he's angry or that he hates the 49ers. It simply would be a business move that his agent likely would suggest.

Stay tuned.

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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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