San Francisco 49ers star running back Christian McCaffrey heads into Thursday Night Football against the New York Giants on a torrid pace through two games.
McCaffrey leads the NFL in rush attempts (42), rushing yards (268) and total touches (48). For a running back who had his injury concerns with the Carolina Panthers, this doesn’t seem to be sustainable.
However, the early-season NFL Offensive Player of the Year favorite is not too concerned about his early-season workload.
“I think it’s all dependent on how the game’s going,” McCaffrey said, via Alex Espinoza of 95.7 The Game. “We had a lot of breaks last game. Sometimes, that’s just how it goes. There’s going to be games, too, where (Elijah) Mitchell gets four or five carries in a row on multiple drives because he’s playing well, and he’s feeling it, and I’ll be out.”
Mitchell did not attempt a single run in last week’s win over the Los Angeles Rams. For his part, CMC ran the ball 20 times and played in 100% of his team’s offensive snaps for just the 10th time in his career.
“It’s really such a situational thing. I don’t think it’s ever a plan for us to get all the carries or not. It’s just sometimes that’s just how the games go,” McCaffrey said.
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Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers continue to dominate
Since acquiring McCaffrey from the Carolina Panthers back on Oct. 21 of last year, the 49ers boast a 12-1 regular season record. The team lost its debut with McCaffrey in the mix as he played a part-time role. Since then, it has run off 12 consecutive wins while averaging 31.3 points per game.
For his part, McCaffrey has been the best back in the game during this span. It’s not necessarily close.
- Christian McCaffrey stats (13 games w/ 49ers): 1,014 rushing yards, 5.0 average, 58 receptions, 500 yards, 1,514 total yards, 12 TD
Through two games this season, McCaffrey is on pace to break Eric Dickerson’s single-season NFL rushing record.
This is all fine and dandy. But the 49ers are not going to earn the first Super Bowl title since 1995 if McCaffrey is run down or finds himself injured again. Remember, he missed 23 of a possible 33 games with the Carolina Panthers in 2020 and 2021. San Francisco must take this into account.