After spending the first nine weeks of the 2024 NFL season seeing specialists, landing on IR, and even traveling to Germany to meet with experts, Christian McCaffrey's 2024 debut for the San Francisco 49ers is rapidly approaching.
Officially listed as questionable for Week 10 by Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers, McCaffrey opened up about just how challenging this year has been for him so far and how he's been able to keep his chin up in the face of dark times and adversity.
“I keep all that stuff private,” McCaffrey said. “When you're on IR, and you're hurt, you'll do anything to come back. So, I'm feeling good now. That's all that matters,” McCaffrey explained via ESPN.
“It can be dark sometimes and especially with something like that that you feel like it's having to watch games, you're physically in pain. A lot goes into this. I think about football every day of my life. It consumes about 98% of my life, and so when it doesn't go right, it can be very tough. But all I know is it makes you realize how blessed and fortunate you are to play when you are on that field.”
With some openly wondering if his career could be over due to his nagging Achilles tendinitis, the fact that McCaffrey could see the field in Week 10 or even Week 11 is pretty incredible stuff. How he impacts the 49ers' offense, however, remains to be seen, as they've been an effective rushing team while he's been away.
Chris Foerster admits losing Christian McCaffrey was a challenge
Discussing the potential of McCaffrey returning to the field for the 49ers in Week 10 during his weekly media session, run game coordinator Chris Foerster was asked how CMC's absence has impacted the team, comparing the situation to losing Jared McKinney before the 2018 season.
While Foerster noted that opposing teams might have played the 49ers differently, he didn't approach it differently, as he felt comfortable with the depth chart the 49ers assembled before the season.
“I don’t think it feels the same way. I think that there’s other players that have kind of learned from Christian a year ago. Christian was not in and out last year, but the guys had to step in, and we had to continue to play with [RB Jordan Mason] JP or whoever if Christian was in and out of the game and things like that,” Foerster told reporters.
“So I think we felt real confident that without Christian there, we all know that he brings a whole different dynamic to how we can game plan and how defenses approach us. So yeah, the defense may approach us differently, but I don’t think it caught us quite as – I think at that point, I wasn’t here to remember exactly, but I think it was a little bit more like, gosh we were really counting on him and without him, there really wasn’t somebody else that was going to pick up that slack that we encountered for him to do. I think we have guys now that can kind of do a little bit, albeit not as much or as good.”
On the one hand, Mason really did do a good job of holding things down for the 49ers without McCaffrey, ranking top 10 in rushing yards and rushing attempts on the season so far. But he isn't the same threat in the passing game and just doesn't scare opposing offenses in the same way, which may have played into his production, too.
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