What Christian McCaffrey's Usage Will Look Like Against the Vikings

Christian McCaffrey has a slight oblique tear, but is expected to play against when the 49ers face the Vikings. Will he still be used heavily?

Some light was shed on Sunday regarding the oblique injury that Christian McCaffrey is dealing with.

It turns out he has a slight tear in his oblique, but it is not deemed significant enough for him to miss the 49ers' Monday night matchup with the Vikings. McCaffrey missed the first two practices of the week and was limited on Saturday. That is why he has a chance to play against the Vikings with a questionable status.

However, I'd argue that the 49ers would benefit from holding McCaffrey out of the game. It isn't worth the risk of aggravation to his oblique tear. The 49ers need McCaffrey for the long haul of the season, and it shouldn't come at the risk of playing against a team as lowly as the Vikings. But I doubt they, or even McCaffrey, are considering that. I fully expect McCaffrey to be active and start in the game for the 49ers. Now, it is all a matter of how his usage will look like against the Vikings.

I'd imagine that he wouldn't be heavily used as he has been for every game this season. The 49ers have an excellent running back room with Elijah Mitchell and Jordan Mason. Now is the time for them to use them in a rotational system. If the 49ers are not considering making McCaffrey inactive, then they at least should cut his snaps to an extent. Instead of him getting around 20 carries and running a handful of routes a game, they should look to limit him to 10-to-15 carries with only several routes run.

As a matter of fact, I'd advocate for McCaffrey to get no more than 10 carries, but keep his usage as a receiver the same if not more. Running between the tackles will have him more susceptible to taking hits on his slightly torn oblique than as a receiver. This way, he still makes a hefty impact on the game while also reducing the hits on himself. Mason and Mitchell can platoon the duties in the running game to keep the 49ers' offense effective.

Meanwhile, McCaffrey acts as the receiver in the game. It also will be to the benefit of the 49ers in attacking the Vikings' defense. Their linebackers can easily be picked on throughout the game by running McCaffrey on routes at them. He should be having them on skates and find massive success. He can even act as a decoy, which is basically the role that Deebo Samuel plays. And since Samuel is inactive, McCaffrey can squeeze into that as well. This is how the 49ers should use McCaffrey.

But I fully expect Kyle Shanahan to still run him like normal.