Kyle Shanahan has good news on return of one of 49ers most important players
Head coach Kyle Shanahan had good news on that front after Thursday's joint practice with the Las Vegas Raiders, joking that McCaffrey is blowing away the GPS tracking data.
'Yeah, I think he had like 25 yesterday or something like that," Shanahan quipped about McCaffrey's miles per hour. "Trying to make Christian happy. He's doing awesome. He's as fast as he's been, as quick, as strong. He's Christian McCaffrey.'
That's exactly what San Francisco was hoping for throughout the offseason where McCaffrey was a full participant. He exited last year's training camp early and wound up missing the first eight games. Once he returned he looked ineffective before suffering a season-ending knee injury early in his fourth game.
San Francisco's offense struggled without the 2023 Offensive Player of the Year, and having him back and healthy would be the most significant lift their offense could get as they aim to bounce back from their putrid 2024 campaign.
Shanahan said he's been communicating with McCaffrey and the training staff throughout camp, and that nothing has changed about his workload through two joint practices and a preseason game with another on the way.
'Yeah, I mean I'm around Christian a lot, so I talk to him a lot," Shanahan said. "Talk to the trainers a lot, and Christian's very neurotic about his body, so you know he's on top of all that stuff. But I mean last year was the first training camp he missed with us. Missing training camp isn't always the best way to; it's definitely not the best way to keep you healthy. But getting hurt in training camp also is a problem too. So that's kind of the miserable decisions I have every single day.'
Balancing McCaffrey's workload between his readiness for Week 1 and his immediate health is one of the key pieces of Shanahan's job this preseason. So far, so good. If McCaffrey continues to look like himself, the 49ers will be in good shape to make a run back to the postseason.
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