Christian McCaffrey Is Not Worried About Heavy Workload
San Francisco 49ers star running back Christian McCaffrey has had a heavy workload so far this season. He played every snap against the Rams and 58 out of 68 snaps in the season opener. He leads the NFL in rushing yards with 268, but also leads in carries with 42. This workload doesn’t seem to bother the star running back just yet though.
“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 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.
“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.”
Although McCaffrey has had a great start to the season, this isn’t sustainable. The 49ers have a short break this week and will play their home opener on Thursday night against the New York Giants. As a 49ers fan, I want to see McCaffrey play well in every game, but with his injury history, I also want to see Elijah Mitchell get some snaps as well.
Mitchell only played 10 snaps against the Steelers and none against the Rams, and head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t exactly intend for this to happen either.
“Yeah, we’ve definitely got to get Elijah in there more and do better with our rotation than we did yesterday,” Shanahan told reporters. “That wasn’t the plan going in. It just ended up that way, and I’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
While Shanahan admitted fault, he has to pay better attention and make sure the position coaches stay on top of this stuff. The 49ers have a championship window that is open and they need to capitalize on it. The past few seasons have been good, but injuries have played a role in preventing the team from achieving the ultimate goal.
If McCaffrey gets injured due to over-usage, it would be a major blow to the 49ers offense. Shanahan needs to ensure that something as simple as usage rate doesn’t turn this season into another what-if.
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