San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey is coming off a season in which he touched the ball an alarming 413 times, easily a career high and one that will prove hard to double up on in the 2026 season.
Given McCaffrey's injury, earning another 400 touches this year would be alarming, and it would raise questions of whether or not he would be able to withstand such wear and tear. CMC isn't the NFL's only bell cow, however, and it would do the Niners good to learn the same lesson from a team that had a similar experience in 2025.
The Indianapolis Colts recently came out and expressed their desire to ease the burden put on their star running back, Jonathan Taylor. The Wisconsin product is coming off a pair of seasons in which he had a combined 690 touches, as the Colts have proven incapable of reducing his workload.
49ers and Colts share similar quandary
The Colts and 49ers experienced similar seasons when it came to their respective backfields. Both Taylor and McCaffrey proved too valuable to take off the field, even though both racked up touches at extreme paces.
The main problem in Indianapolis was that it simply didn't have anybody good enough to spell the star. Backup D.J. Giddens rushed for just 3.7 yards per carry on 26 attempts, and Tyler Goodsen rushed for 2.7 yards per carry on nine attempts.
Simply put, the Colts failed to justify taking Taylor off the field.
San Francisco had slightly better fortunes, but elected not to use them. Backup Brian Robinson Jr. rushed for 4.3 yards per carry on 92 total attempts. The average doesn't pop off the page, but it was better than CMC's meager rate of 3.9. The 49ers also had rookie Jordan James on the roster, but they failed to give him a single carry during the regular season.
Now, with Robinson Jr. gone, coach Kyle Shanahan may have an even tougher time taking their superstar off the field. James will compete with rookie Kaelon Black for the backup job, though neither of them boasts an impressive resume in the pass-catching department.
With all that said, it seems the 49ers are intent on learning this lesson the hard way. They've already endured one season without the services of the former Stanford man, and, needless to say, things didn't go as planned. With the Niners squarely in the middle of their championship window, it might be in Shanahan's best interest to give James and Black some more looks early in the season so that CMC can be his elite self come January.
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