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Perhaps the only person around the San Francisco 49ers who isn’t worried about the heavy workload that All-Pro Christian McCaffrey handled last season is McCaffrey himself.
While Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the coaching staff have expressed the need to reduce McCaffrey’s usage after his 450-touch campaign during the regular season and 2025 playoffs, McCaffrey doesn’t see the need for load management.
“I feel like I’ve been dealing with these issues for nine years,” McCaffrey said. “I think the workload in our sport is really monitored in practice, not in games. We play 17 regular season games a year and everyone’s livelihood is on the line. I would say on Sunday you have to do whatever it takes to win and that’s not a coach’s job. You don’t tell a 3-point shooter you’re only getting six 3s today. It’s so up-tempo and it’s my job to put my body in the best possible position to go and I think everything else can be monitored during the week… But when it comes to game days, I like to think: prepare to play every snap.
McCaffrey almost accomplished that last season when he led all running backs in playing in 83% of offensive snaps for the 49ers. McCaffrey almost never calls for a break and running backs coach Bobby Turner kept calling his number.
“It’s a challenge,” Turner said. “But I personally should have done a better job of handling that last year, because I keep track of every play and I’m aware of when he’s there, when he’s not. But this year the coaching staff will all be involved in making sure that doesn’t happen.”
McCaffrey had 272 rushing attempts in 2023, while leading the league in rushing yards, but played in just four games in 2024 before rebounding with an NFL-leading 413 touches from scrimmage and a Pro Bowl appearance in 25. (Photo by Kara Durrette/Getty Images)
After being limited to four games due to injuries in 2024, McCaffrey was an ironman last season. He played 1,010 offensive snaps during the regular season and playoffs – only the ninth running back in the last 20 seasons to surpass the 1,000 mark – and became the second player in the last decade with at least 450 combined carries and catches.
With several other offensive stars, from quarterback Brock Purdy to tight end George Kittle to receiver Ricky Pearsall, sidelined for extended periods due to injuries, the Niners couldn’t afford to take McCaffrey off the field because he was both the team’s best runner and often one of its most reliable pass catchers.
“We started the year wanting to take care of him a little bit more,” Shanahan said. “But the way the offense was going, I think it was harder to get him off (the field), more with the receivers and the injuries we had. And it was cool to have him there because he helped our offense so much.”
McCaffrey, who turned 30 on Sunday, hasn’t responded well in the past after his most intensive seasons. The previous two times he topped 400 touches – in 2019 with Carolina and in 2023 with the 49ers – he was severely hampered by injuries the following season, missing 13 games each in 2020 and 2024.
That’s what the 49ers hope to avoid this year when they plan to put more faith in young backs.
Jordan James, a 2025 fifth-round pick, was injured in training camp and never established himself as a viable option. His only three offensive snaps in the regular season came while San Francisco was on its knees in a blowout win over Indianapolis in Week 16. His only other action came late in a 41-6 playoff loss to Seattle when he had six carries for 28 yards and a reception.
The 49ers then used a third-round pick to select Indiana’s Kaelon Black in this year’s draft and are hoping at least one of the two can earn playing time this season.
“I’m sure they’ll have more opportunities,” Turner said. “They’re both competitors, they were both drafted for a reason. They’re mentally strong people, they can be explosive. … They’ll definitely get more opportunities, which means Christian will be fresher.”
The 49ers also hope a fresher McCaffrey will make him more explosive. Despite gaining 2,126 yards from scrimmage and flirting with his second 1,000-yard rushing and receiving season, McCaffrey struggled to generate big plays with just three runs of at least 20 yards, compared to nine in his last healthy season in 2023 when he won AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year.
The Niners had four big runs total during the season after averaging nearly 14 per season the previous four years.
“When you look at the league and you study the great backs and the guys that affect the game like him, those guys come out of the game,” offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said. “These guys take a hit sometimes and whether it’s a practice or a few plays in a series, it helps these players. Christian knows that, and we have to do a better job as coaches, we have to do a better job at certain times to get a better rotation.”
Associated Press reporting.
