49ers' McCaffrey: Workload managed in practice, not games

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Since becoming one of the league's most productive and busiest running backs upon his arrival in 2017, theSan Francisco 49ers' Christian McCaffrey has grown accustomed to questions about his workload.

This offseason has been no different, especially after McCaffrey had a league-leading and career-high 413 touches last year. Coach Kyle Shanahan has been more emphatic than ever about helping McCaffrey, who will turn 30 on June 7, find additional breathers.

None of that has changed McCaffrey's perspective, however. He made that clear when speaking after the Niners' organized team activity Thursday.

"I've been dealing with those questions for nine years," McCaffrey said. "I think the workload in our sport is really monitored in practice, not in games. We play 17 regular-season games a year and everybody's livelihoods are on the line. I would say on Sunday you've got to do whatever it takes to win and that's not a coach's job. You don't tell the 3-point shooter you only get six 3s today.

"So much of it is rhythmic and it's my job to put my body in the best position I can to go out there and play and I think everything else can be monitored during the week or with a practice schedule or certain ways you train, whatever it may be. But when it comes to game days, I like to think you prepare yourself for playing every snap."

That has been McCaffrey's standard response when asked about his workload in past years, even the ones in which he has been the focal point of his team's offense and posted some of his best seasons. Last year, McCaffrey finished second in the NFL in scrimmage yards (2,126) and third in scrimmage touchdowns (17) while falling 76 receiving yards short of a second career season with at least 1,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving yards.

For those efforts, McCaffrey was named the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year and finished second in Offensive Player of the Year voting. All of which was especially commendable given that McCaffrey was coming off a nightmare 2024 in which bilateral Achilles tendinitis cost him the first eight games and a posterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee prevented him from playing in the final five contests.

The 2026 season will be the third time in McCaffrey's career in which he is aiming to build on a season with 2,000 or more scrimmage yards. In the previous two (2020 and 2024), he played in a combined seven games.

In the past 20 years, only eight other players have had 400-plus touches in a season. McCaffrey will be the first on the list attempting to follow up such a season for the second time.

Through the rest of the offseason program and training camp, the Niners plan to be cautious with McCaffrey, who did not practice Thursday but did Wednesday. Their hope is that keeping him fresh will also help him and the running game regain some of the juice they lost last season.

McCaffrey averaged 3.9 yards per carry last season, his lowest as a Niner, and San Francisco had 46 runs of 10-plus yards, the team's lowest total since Shanahan arrived in 2017.

Getting back to the explosive run game of years past is a priority for the 49ers and McCaffrey in 2026.

"I think breaking tackles, hitting those long ones, that's something I can be better at," McCaffrey said. "Can't always control what happens in a play, but if the hole's there, you've got to hit it, you've got to make the 8- to 10-yard runs into big ones. And if it's not there, you've got to do everything you can to get 4 or 5, whatever it is."

Perhaps it would help McCaffrey if some of the team's running back depth can prove reliable behind him. After losing veteran Brian Robinson to the Atlanta Falcons in free agency, the Niners drafted Indiana running back Kaelon Black in the third round. He joins Jordan James, Isaac Guerendo and Patrick Taylor Jr.on the depth chart.

But that group has already taken a hit with Shanahan announcing Thursday that Guerendo will be out for a bit after tearing a pectoral muscle while weightlifting.

"It's not a season ender," Shanahan said. "But it's [going keep him out until] right around the end of training camp."