49ers’ Kyle Shanahan aims to protect Christian McCaffrey next season from possible burnout

Christian McCaffrey had the best numbers of his NFL career last season but also played a ton of minutes in the process.

49ers’ Kyle Shanahan aims to protect Christian McCaffrey next season from possible burnout

Kyle Shanahan and Christian McCaffrey (Image via IMAGO)

Christian McCaffrey strikes fear in the heart of the opposition. He is a 5 foot 11, 210-pounder who can ram through defenses to score touchdowns. While it’s a luxury to have such a great weapon in the offense, over-reliance can wear the player down quickly.

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, who brought McCaffrey to the Bay Area in 2022, understands the importance of keeping his players injury-free, especially when he was the OPOY last year. In a recent interview with The Athletic, Shanahan spoke about the importance of protecting the running back.

We have to protect Christian from himself. He doesn’t like to ever come out no matter what the situation is and I do think that’s something we could protect him with more.
Kyle Shanahan said

McCaffrey hasn’t had any long-term injury since spraining his ankle in week 12 against the Miami Dolphins while playing for the Carolina Panthers in 2021. He did endure a couple of knocks, first a rib sprain in Week 6 and then a calf strain on the last day of the regular season.

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However, those weren’t as serious for the 28-year-old to miss more than one game. McCaffrey played all three games in the playoffs, including the Super Bowl in February. He had 59 carries for 268 yards and 4 touchdowns, along with 19 receptions for 152 yards and 1 touchdown ending up on the cover of Madden 25.

Kyle Shanahan aiming to rest Christian McCaffrey more, giving others a chance

McCaffrey led the league with the most yards from scrimmage in 2023 (126.4 yards per game). He was miles ahead of the next 49ers player on the list who was a receiver, Brandon Aiyuk, with 1342 yards.

San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (Image via IMAGO)

Shanahan sees the value the three-time All-Pro rusher adds to the 49ers run game. However, he wants to spread those minutes to other players as well.

He’s [Christian McCaffrey] just taking the wear and tear with 20 carries and stuff every game — and he’s [definitely] good enough to do that and he has proved he can stay healthy — but you’d like to take some of that off of him and give it to other guys also.
Kyle Shanahan said

2021’s sixth-round pick Elijah Mitchell had 75 carries last season as the extra rusher for the 49ers. They also added Louisville Cardinals graduate Isaac Guerendo in the fourth round this year. Shanahan can easily rotate the pair and give McCaffrey much-needed rest in between reps.

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