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Former NFL OC Concerned About 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey's Extension

"I worry about the expiration date on a running back."
Grant Cohn|
Feb 11, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) hands the ball to running back Christian McCaffrey (23) against the Kansas City Chiefs during overtime of Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 11, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) hands the ball to running back Christian McCaffrey (23) against the Kansas City Chiefs during overtime of Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports | Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

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San Francisco 49ers

I recently asked former Raiders offensive coordinator Tom Walsh about Christian McCaffrey's two-year, $38 million contract extension with the 49ers that makes him the highest-paid running back ever and will expire when he's 31. Here's what Walsh said.

WALSH: "I worry about the expiration date on a running back. The expiration dates for running backs in the NFL are shorter than any other position in the league. And for the amount of money the 49ers are paying McCaffrey, he's going to be a workhorse. Passing game, running game -- he's going to touch the ball 20 to 25 times per game. But think about this. How many other hits will he take when he's not touching the ball? If he's blocking, he's going to have contact. He's on the field 80 percent of the time. How many of those plays is he getting hit? Next to the offensive lineman and the tight end, he probably has more contact than any other position on the offense. And he's 200 pounds.

"He has all the tools, and the 49ers are very intent on featuring him. Based upon the usage that is assigned to him in the gameplan, they must think about him as their most valuable weapon. He's that Swiss Army Knife guy who can do it all. You hope that a running back of his size can hold up under the amount of hits and punishment he's going to take physically because of all the contact when he's in the ball game."

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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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