Kyle Shanahan Reacts to Christian McCaffrey's Extension with the 49ers

SANTA CLARA -- 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked about Christian McCaffrey's two-year extension on Tuesday. Here's what Shanahan said, courtesy of the 49ers P.R. department.

Q: What are your thoughts on RB Christian McCaffrey and his extension? He really seemed to deserve it after last year.

SHANAHAN: “Every year he’s been in the league, it seems like he's been the same guy since he's walked in the building. He's the same guy every day on and off the field. And I'm pumped to have him here for a long time.”

Q: Is Christian here right now?

SHANAHAN: “Yeah, Christian is here.”

Q: Will he participate tomorrow?

SHANAHAN: “We didn't have him do anything today. He was out there working out, but we didn't put him in any reps and I doubt we do tomorrow too.”

Q: Obviously, you don't deal with all the negotiation stuff. But when it's players of this high profile, do you take a peek in there? Are you at all kind of monitoring these things?

SHANAHAN: “I do to a certain time, and then I kind of check out of it. When I don't have as much to do, players aren't in the building, it's kind of hard not to just check in and ask how it's going. But there's not that many updates. That stuff takes time and everything, but now, especially with guys in practices, mini camp, it’s stuff I don't ask about at all.”

Q: Christian's obviously not an old guy, not even an old player, but we know that position can age fast when you get closer to 30 and be replaceable. We know what the salary's been like. What is it about Christian in your mind that tells you that this could take him to his thirties, that he's still going to be this valuable that long from now?

SHANAHAN: “Well, the running back market's different than everything. So I think that we feel very good with where we're at with that, with Christian especially. I think we got, contractually, I think it's four more years. But when you look at Christian just as an individual, I'm not going to compare him to anybody else. Christian is one of the more talented people I've ever been with in my life. But if I didn't speak about that, I'd say he is almost the biggest overachiever I've been around in my life, in terms of how obsessive he is with every little thing and you guys have heard us talk about him, but that's where he is extremely unique. As you get older with age, you lose a step or something, that's not what makes Christian great. That's how he is the same player down in and down out. And yeah, it's great to have all the talent that he does have and he takes care of his body as good as anyone. So you don't picture him losing any of that because of a number. But if that stuff does happen, Christian's always going to be a good football player until he decides not to be. And we're not really concerned with that at all with this type of personality.”

Q: Christian had 339 touches last year. What'd you think of that usage? Do you see that number going up this year or you think it's more likely to go down?

SHANAHAN: “I don't think it always needs to be that case with all the runs. Like we have guys that can run the ball. We have to protect Christian from himself. He doesn't like to ever come out no matter what the situation is and I do think that's something we could protect him with more. When you are such a threat in the pass game, it's a little bit different. And when you get touches from a running back, a lot of times you're the last choice, just everyone's deep and you throw it to a checkdown. So, halfbacks can get six targets in a game without one play called for him just because they're on checkdowns a lot. And so how do we feel about those touches? Man, I'm glad he was out there for that checkdown. That means no one's around and he is getting up the field and he is as good of a threat on a checkdown as there can be. But if he's just taking the wear and tear with 20 carries and stuff every game and he's definitely good enough to do that and he is proved he can stay healthy. But you'd like to take some of that off of him and give it to other guys also.”