For the last few seasons, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said pretty much every offseason the plan was to take some of the burden off star running back Christian McCaffrey. Shanahan said that prior to the 2025 season, and then CMC proceeded to have the most touches of any player in the NFL by a healthy margin.
This season, it seems Shanahan has finally lived up to his word.
The head coach said in the offseason that San Francisco needed to do a better job of giving McCaffrey a break, and really, the only major addition it made at running back was drafting Kaelon Black in the third round, a move that was criticized by many at the time.
Despite that criticism, Black has looked like a legitimate backup running back so far this season. He’s been basically the same as Brian Robinson Jr. last season, so the rookie has been a nice find thus far.
49ers finally appear to be keeping Christian McCaffrey fresh
McCaffrey has yet to hit 20 touches in a game so far this season. The closest he got was 19 in Week 3 against the Arizona Cardinals, but he’s been used wisely for the most part. Even against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 5, he had just 11 rushes and three receptions despite the fact San Francisco ran the ball effectively against Seattle’s defense.
Black is certainly a part of why the Niners haven’t had to lean upon McCaffrey as much, but wide receiver Mike Evans may be an even bigger reason. Evans is the type of No. 1 receiver San Francisco hasn’t had on offense in a long time. Quarterback Brock Purdy now has that go-to guy whom he can just throw it up to and expect him to make a play, whereas in the past, maybe more of those would have just been dump-off passes to McCaffrey if nothing was open.
With Evans, he’s pretty much always open, given his size and his ability to maneuver himself and gain leverage against a defensive back. Having a threat like that helps take pressure off everyone else.
Deebo Samuel is also part of why McCaffrey hasn’t been overused thus far. The Niners have used him as a running back a little bit, but after his hamstring injury, they’ll probably be without Deebo for at least the next month, which could force Black into a bigger role.
The Niners have managed McCaffrey well so far, and they need to continue doing that because they’re going to need him fresh come playoff time, assuming they make the playoffs. Running him into the ground by December would be a mistake, so this sort of 15-to-20 touch-per-game plan seems perfect.
Add us as a preferred source on Google