For years now, the San Francisco 49ers have had to worry about their star running back’s workload. Christian McCaffrey is such a difference maker on the field that it’s tough to take him out, but once again, head coach Kyle Shanahan has said the Niners must be smarter about the running back's usage.
Ed McCaffrey, Shanahan’s childhood idol and the father of Christian, gave a reminder that it’s not so easy to take his son out of the game.
He also warned the 49ers what could happen if they do.
The elder McCaffrey spoke to reporter Kyle Odegard for an interview on Casino.org. They covered a range of topics, but the most important one has to do with Christian’s workload.
Here is some of what Ed McCaffrey had to say about the matter:
The thing about Christian is, he is an every-down back… He can run receiver routes and play the slot, and when you have a player like that, it dictates to the defense what they can do from a personnel standpoint.
Ed McCaffrey then warned, “A coach’s job is to win. You can rest your players if you want. But if you lose, the NFL does stand for Not For Long.”
That really is the reason why the Niners don’t give McCaffrey a lot of rest. He is such an advantage to have on the field and makes things so much harder for the defense because the opposing team has to account for him no matter where he is on the field.
That’s such a unique weapon to have, and if the 49ers aren’t blowing a team out and it’s a pretty close game, then Shanahan is going to want to have his best guy out on the field. It’s a blessing and a curse because not many other teams have a threat like that, but if you overuse it, you could lose it.
The Niners were very lucky with McCaffrey’s health in 2022, 2023, and 2025. He played in basically every game for the 49ers those three seasons, but in 2024, he was ravaged by injury and limited to just four games.
Obviously, San Francisco is hoping he can repeat what he did last year, but he led the team in touches by a lot, which probably isn’t sustainable for the 30-year-old.
Ed McCaffrey also told Odegard that he feels the addition of wide receiver Mike Evans could open up the run game a bit by keeping opposing defenses more honest in the pass game. That could make it not as necessary to get Christian McCaffrey so many touches.
Of course, another concern is who will back up McCaffrey at running back and be able to spell him. Jordan James and Kaelon Black seem like the two likeliest options at this point, but they are both young and largely untested in the NFL, so it’s questionable whether the Niners would pull McCaffrey off the field in favor of them all that often.
It will be a difficult balancing act, though, as Ed McCaffrey described. Obviously, CMC needs to be rested a bit so he doesn’t get worn out, but he’s also too valuable to keep off the field for too long.
Shanahan will be presented with that dilemma yet again this upcoming season.
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