By the time Christian McCaffrey takes the field on Sept. 7 for the San Francisco 49ers' Week 1 matchup with the rival Seattle Seahawks, it will have been more than nine months since he took an actual game snap, his last non-practice action coming last Dec. 1 against the Buffalo Bills.
And seeing how the three-time Pro Bowler missed the entirety of the 2024 preseason and left that matchup against the Bills in the second quarter, he's only played three and a half games since the Niners' loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 58, which took place on Feb. 11, 2024.
So, that's only about 14 quarters of football in nearly 19 months, which isn't what you want to see from one of the most talented (and highest-paid) running backs in the NFL. McCaffrey's absence was undoubtedly one of the big reasons San Francisco struggled to a 6-11 finish a season ago.
But now that he's fully healthy, Niners fans are naturally hoping to see a repeat performance of the Stanford alum's 2023 campaign in which he amassed a league-leading 2,023 yards and scored an NFL-best 21 total touchdowns en route to winning Offensive Player of the Year.
And, according to quarterback Brock Purdy, that's the player who will take the field in Week 1.
"Yeah, I mean, obviously, physically, he looks great, getting in and out of cuts, running hard. Back to the McCaffrey that we all know. And then mentally he’s just, he’s on one, like he’s ready to get after it with the season and obviously from beginning to end, like play a whole season and go hard," Purdy told the media recently.
"And that’s who he is, he keeps telling all of us in the locker room, he’s like, ‘Dude, I can’t wait. I can’t wait.' And so, for me as a quarterback, I’m like, 'Dude, I love hearing that' and obviously let’s just keep taking him one day at a time, but he’s ready to roll."
A statement like that should obviously get fans fired up, but given McCaffrey's history, there's just always going to be cause for concern.
When healthy, he's an absolute menace and easily one of the top backs this league has ever seen, as evidenced by the fact that he's tallied 6,387 regular-season rushing yards during his eight-year career, good for 87th in NFL history, and has scored 52 touchdowns on the ground, good for a tie for 80th, while also adding 4,466 yards and 29 scores as a receiver on 524 receptions.
Now, just imagine what his numbers would look like if he hadn't missed 37 of a possible 84 regular-season games over the last five years. And that's why head coach Kyle Shanahan has been so cautious with him during training camp and has kept him from playing in the 49ers' preseason games.
McCaffrey's presence was always going to be crucial to San Francisco's success this season, but given the amount of injuries this team has sustained as a whole, it's even more important that he remain healthy.
Niners coaches, players, and fans alike need to hope that he's as "ready to roll" as Purdy says he is.