SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The San Francisco 49ers organization appears united in wanting to dial back All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey’s heavy usage from last season, with one notable exception: McCaffrey himself.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan and his coaching staff have stated their intention to limit McCaffrey’s touches following his demanding 450-touch performance during the 2025 regular season and postseason. However, McCaffrey remains skeptical about the need for such restrictions.
“I’ve been dealing with those questions for nine years it feels like,” 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 everybody’s livelihoods are on the line. I would say on Sunday you’ve got to do whatever it takes to win and that’s not a coach’s job. You don’t tell a 3-point shooter you only get six 3s today. So much of it is rhythmic and it’s my job to put my body in the best position I can to go out there and play. I think everything else can be monitored during the week. … But when it comes to game days, I like to think, prepare yourself for playing every snap.”
Last season, McCaffrey came close to achieving that goal, leading all running backs with participation in 83% of the team’s offensive plays. The star back rarely requested time off the field, and running backs coach Bobby Turner continued to rely on him heavily.
“It’s challenging,” Turner said. “But I should have personally done a better job of managing that last year, because I do keep a tally on every play and aware when he’s in, when he isn’t. But this year, the coaching staff, they will all be involved in making sure that doesn’t happen.”
Following an injury-shortened 2024 campaign that limited him to just four appearances, McCaffrey demonstrated remarkable durability last season. He accumulated 1,010 offensive snaps across regular season and playoff games — becoming only the ninth running back in two decades to surpass 1,000 snaps — and joined an exclusive group as just the second player in the past ten years to record at least 450 combined rushes and receptions.
With key offensive weapons including quarterback Brock Purdy, tight end George Kittle, and receiver Ricky Pearsall missing significant time due to injuries, San Francisco found it difficult to remove McCaffrey from games as he served as both their primary rusher and one of their most dependable pass-catching options.
“We went into the year wanting to take care of him a little bit more,” Shanahan said. “But the way the offense went, I think more with the receivers and the injuries that we had, it was hard to get him off (the field). And it was cool to have him out there because he did help our offense so much.”
McCaffrey, who celebrated his 30th birthday on Sunday, has historically struggled in seasons following his highest-usage campaigns. Both previous times he exceeded 400 touches — during 2019 with Carolina and 2023 with the 49ers — he suffered significant injury setbacks the next year, missing 13 contests in both 2020 and 2024.
San Francisco hopes to break this pattern by placing greater confidence in their younger backfield options.
Fifth-round 2025 selection Jordan James suffered a training camp injury that prevented him from establishing a meaningful role. His regular season contribution consisted of just three offensive snaps during garbage time of a dominant victory over Indianapolis in Week 16. He saw additional action only during a lopsided 41-6 playoff defeat to Seattle, where he managed six carries for 28 yards and one catch.
The organization then invested a third-round pick in Indiana’s Kaelon Black during this year’s draft, hoping either he or James can contribute meaningfully this season.
“I’m positive they’re going to get more opportunities,” Turner said. “They both are competitors, they both were drafted for a reason. They’re mentally tough people, they can be explosive. … They definitely will get more opportunity, which means Christian is going to be fresher.”
San Francisco believes a less-fatigued McCaffrey could regain his explosive playmaking ability. Despite accumulating 2,126 total yards and nearly achieving his second season with 1,000 yards both rushing and receiving, McCaffrey managed only three runs of 20-plus yards, a significant decline from nine such plays during his healthy 2023 campaign when he earned AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year honors.
The team recorded just four explosive running plays all season after averaging nearly 14 annually over the previous four years.
“When you look around the league and you study great backs and study guys who affect the game like he does, those guys do come out of the game,” offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said. “Those guys do get a blow sometimes and whether it’s a drive or a couple plays in a series, it helps those players. Christian knows that, and we’ve got to do a better job as coaches, we’ve got to do a better job at times of getting a better rotation.”
