There was no greater symbol of the downturn the San Francisco 49ers took last season than running back Christian McCaffrey. An Achilles' issue that shockingly rendered him inactive for Week 1 sidelined him until Week 10, then he played in just four games before suffering a knee injury that ended his season.
Of course the range of outcomes with McCaffrey is always wide. For every season like 2023, when he he topped 2,000 yards from scrimmage, there's a season like last year. He has topped 1,800 total yards in four of the last seven seasons, while totaling 14 games played in the other three campaigns.
Now nearing his 29th birthday (June 7), McCaffrey is approaching the age-cliff many running backs reach and never retreat from. So the 49ers had to have a succession plan on their radar in this year's draft, and they may have secured a good one in Jordan James.
But as offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said recently, the idea of reducing McCaffrey's workload is not so simple.
“You guys saw in 2023 how important he is to what we want to be as an offense," Kubiak said. "He’s an elite player and we're going to do everything we can to get him the ball as much as we can. And yeah, his health is really important. He’s one of our central players on offense. We want to hand him the ball, we want to throw him the ball, how he changes defenses when he's on the field for how they have to play us in certain coverages, right? Putting more guys in the box to stop the run, it has an effect on the opponents."
Christian McCaffrey has a lot on the line in 2025
McCaffrey's health will be a key barometer for the success or failure of the 49ers' 2025 season. Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report further fortified that by putting McCaffrey on his list of eight players with the most on the line this year.
"If McCaffrey recaptures past form, all will be well in Santa Clara. But if he doesn’t, he’ll be an aging (in running back terms) back with a fairly extensive injury history who signed an extension last year that averages $19 million a season."
It's easy to say the 49ers are contractually married to McCaffrey through 2026 after they tacked two years onto the four-year deal he signed with the Carolina Panthers last year. But a closer looks shows a possible (however unlikely) out in 2026, with a pre-June 1 move (cut or trade) leaving behind about $10.2 million in dead money. Over $10 million in dead money is not ideal, but it's peanuts compared to the $34.1 million in dead money (according to Over The Cap) the 49ers took on by trading Deebo Samuel this offseason.
If McCaffrey stays healthy this season and has close to what has been his typical production when he's been healthy, he'll push off questions about his future for another year. If he has another injury-filled campaign, or has noticeably lost something, then the 49ers will have a big decision on their hands next offseason.