SANTA CLARA — Christian McCaffrey is yesterday’s news. So are the 49ers.
McCaffrey has long used slights both real and imagined as fuel for his insatiable appetite for work and preparation.
A year ago, McCaffrey was the reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year and awaiting a late June wedding. Now he’s an aging, broken down running back awaiting fatherhood.
“I like the mentality we have and I like the narrative going around,” McCaffrey said Tuesday as the 49ers began their offseason program. “That’s the kind of stuff you can prove them right or prove them wrong. We have a committed team that’s ready to jell and realize it’s going to take all of us. That’s how it should be, showing up. I’m excited.”
Instead of McCaffrey making life miserable for opposing defenses, it was Philadelphia’s Saquon Barkley. Instead of being the key that unlocked the 49ers’ offense under Kyle Shanahan, McCaffrey introduced the fan base and media to the term “bilateral Achilles tendinitis.”
It took a trip to Germany and eight weeks of the season to get on the field, and then three games where he didn’t look anything like the player who was one of the NFL’s most versatile threats since his arrival by trade from Carolina on Oct. 20, 2022.
Nobody is sure how it happened or why it happened, although McCaffrey’s father Ed suggested on Ross Tucker’s podcast last October that his son had overtrained.
By the time McCaffrey finally began to look like himself last Dec. 1 in Buffalo, with seven rushes for 53 yards, he tore the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He was done for the season, playing in four games with 50 rushes for 202 yards and 15 receptions for 146 yards.
And no touchdowns.
This is the same guy who in his first 37 games with the 49ers including the playoffs, had 745 touches (rushing and receiving) for 4,300 yards and 39 touchdowns.
Is it any wonder the 49ers struggled in the red zone and went from 60 rushing and receiving touchdowns in 2023 to 40 in 2024?
Christian McCaffrey (23) finds running room on Dec. 1 against Buffalo not long before he sustained a season-ending knee injury. Getty ImagesWhich of course leads to speculation that McCaffrey, 28, has hit his expiration date as a premiere running back. If so, he wouldn’t be the first at position where players treat their bodies as if it were a demolition derby. In 2020-21 with the Panthers, McCaffrey was limited to 10 games with a high ankle sprain, a shoulder injury, a glute strain, a hamstring strain and another ankle strain.
“For me it’s about just proving myself right,” McCaffrey said. “I’ve been here before. I’ve been counted out a lot of times in my life. When I start to focus on outside voices, I lose control of my own life, so I know what to do. I know what it takes. I know how I’m supposed to feel to be the best me I can be. I’m just happy I feel like that right now.”
For what it’s worth, McCaffrey is four months younger than Barkley, who supplanted him as the OPOY and rushed for 2,005 yards with the Eagles.
McCaffrey didn’t need surgery and has hit the ground running in a way he didn’t a year ago as he awaited a two-year, $38 million contract extension. He said he has no restrictions.
“It’s been such a smooth process, a lot of hard work,” McCaffrey said. “As soon as that injury happened in Buffalo, my goal was not to miss a day of OTAs, be back ready to go with nothing hindering me and that’s where I’m at.”
McCaffrey was missed nearly as much on the practice field as he was on Sundays. The 49ers learned when he arrived that McCaffrey takes every rep seriously. He put on a maximum effort show every day during his first training camp and wowed teammates with his attention to detail.
The 49ers are only in Phase 1 of their offseason program, which limits players to meetings, strength and conditioning and physical rehabilitation. But going through conditioning pain free and with attendance that general manager John Lynch said approached 100 percent, McCaffrey was feeling good about himself and his team.
“It feels great,” McCaffrey said. “It was such a good turnout. There was great energy on the field, in the weight room, and in meetings. Hopefully we can continue that. It was definitely exciting, and a lot of first-day juice.”
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“Obviously some big ones have happened in my life, but they happen every year,” McCaffrey said. “It’s what people know about and what they don’t. Whether good or bad, I’ve had a lot happen in my career. You come to work every day, you work really hard, then you get home and you’re a husband, you’re a soon-to-be father, you’re a son, you’re a friend. To separate those things is pretty important.”
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