In one of the strangest injury timelines you will ever see, Christian McCaffrey went from being expected to play in Week 1 to the team holding him out a week to missing the entire first half of the season. Now finally set to take the field, is the San Francisco 49ers RB playing in Week 10?
What Is Christian McCaffrey’s Injury?
The best running back in football has not played at all this year due to the combination of a calf strain and Achilles tendinitis. However, it is the latter that has lingered for the past two months, keeping him out of NFL action.
In a saga that had many twists and turns, the 49ers went from playing it safe with McCaffrey to putting him on IR indefinitely. Early in the season, it was genuinely uncertain whether McCaffrey would play at all this season.
Not only did McCaffrey undergo extensive treatment from team doctors, but he flew to Germany for special treatment not available here. Whether McCaffrey is truly back to 100% remains to be seen. Fortunately, he’s looked good at practice.
All looks good for the 49ers: Christian McCaffrey, Nick Bosa and Jordan Mason all moving well at practice pic.twitter.com/TuSyc5alM4
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself)
Reportedly, the Achilles tendinitis will never go away 100%. However, it has recovered enough to the point where the team feels comfortable putting McCaffrey on the field. While his odds of tearing his Achilles may be slightly higher than the average player without tendinitis, it’s still not a probable occurrence. In all likelihood, McCaffrey will be fine.
Is McCaffrey Playing This Week?
We shouldn’t assume anything is 100% until it happens. As a reminder, McCaffrey was also playing in Week 1 until he wasn’t. However, given the way things have played out over the past two months, we should have every bit of confidence in the world that we will see McCaffrey this week.
49ers HC Kyle Shanahan said RB Christian McCaffrey is “good to go” for Sunday’s game vs. Tampa despite the team listing him as questionable due to his calf and Achilles injuries.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter)
On Saturday, the team officially activated the running back from IR. Again, we should believe McCaffrey is back when we see him on the field. However, his activation from IR sets the stage for him to play for the first time all season, this week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
How Might McCaffrey’s Absence Impact the Texans if Ruled Out?
In the event McCaffrey does miss time again in the future, I’m not sure the backfield hierarchy is as clear-cut. It was very clearly Jordan Mason as the feature back to open the season. He operated in that role for the entire nine weeks … at least when he was healthy.
Over the past couple of weeks, Mason has been dealing with a shoulder injury. That opened the door for rookie Isaac Guerendo to really step up. He’s been impressive, averaging 6.1 yards per carry.
If McCaffrey were to go down again, there’s a nonzero chance it would be Guerendo as the next man up rather than Mason.
The 49ers are also set to get Deebo Samuel Sr. and Jauan Jennings back. Samuel left the team’s Week 8 game with a rib issue and has been limited at practice. Jennings has been out multiple weeks with a hip injury. While Brandon Aiyuk is sadly done for the year with a torn ACL, this projects to be the healthiest the 49ers have been all season.