49ers Four Questions: Christian McCaffrey, Free Agents, Trade Deadline

Is Christian McCaffrey’s season over? Is his career in jeopardy?

Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) watches from the sideline due to injury during the second quarter against the New York Jets at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images / David Gonzales-Imagn Images

Christian McCaffrey has Achilles tendonitis in both legs, per NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco. McCaffrey is scheduled to begin light workouts this week, hoping to ramp up to play by early November according to Kyle Shanahan.

1. Tendonitis in both Achilles makes recovery more difficult. Is an early November return realistic?

Doesn’t sound like it, but we need doctors to explain the procedure, progress, and prognosis. The process in Germany with stem cell injections aims to stop inflammation and promote the body’s power to heal itself.

The Niners would love to have McCaffrey back, but they want to limit the danger of rupturing either Achilles when he returns to the field. The problem is that this injury lingers, making it difficult to assess progress and the inherent risk of re-injury.

2.      Who is to blame for this?

Some want to put this at the feet of Kyle Shanahan, and he definitely had a hand in this situation. However, the main culprit is McCaffrey.

It’s McCaffrey who pushed to stay on the field and waved off the other backs trying to come in. McCaffrey who aggressively pursued stats and post-season awards to get a rich extension. He went all out for the bag – and got it. But given his injury history, that all out push came at the price he’s paying now.

Shanahan is an accessory to the crime as he was all too happy to keep McCaffrey in the game. Shanahan has a proven history of riding his running backs straight into the glue factory.

Fans are arguing if Shanahan had played Jordan Mason more, McCaffrey would not be in this position. However, note that both McCaffrey and Shanahan chose to be in that position. Shanahan could have insisted backs come in for McCaffrey and didn’t. He also lacked the talent evaluation to know what he had in Mason at the time. McCaffrey could have shown more caution but wanted the bag and he’s a highly competitive athlete.

Short of Marty McFly coming from the future and handing McCaffrey and Shanahan’s today’s news, neither one would have gone along with more of a rotation last year at running back. It’s a highly unrealistic what-if scenario, going against the short-term self-interest and history of both.

This situation also takes us back to another maxim of Bill Walsh as GM. Never pay for past performance. Shanahan going directly against what Walsh did as GM in doubling down on veterans and paying for the past has the team 2-2 with injury concerns and bloated finances.

3.      Speaking of pay and performance, why is it that the Niners seem to strike out a lot on their most expensive free agent signings? Javon Hargrave may be done in Santa Clara and he didn’t do much.

The Niners have been more miss than hit in free agency, Charvarius Ward has proven to be an excellent signing, but there are more examples like Hargrave.

I’m a fan of cross-pollination in sports, take lessons from one sport and apply it to another. This one may be a first, hockey to football.

Back when the San Jose Sharks had one of the best rosters in the NHL but never won a ring -doesn’t that sound familiar? - critics pointed at the Bay Area as to why. The talk behind the scenes in hockey was that San Jose was too soft, too easy, comfy.

There was no accountability from the team, the fans, or the media. Hockey is well behind the pack in Bay Area team sports, fans and media don’t apply pressure to the Sharks as they would in the Canadian cities and back east.

Is that softening true of the Niners in free agency? It would explain things to an extent. It’s easy like Sunday morning, to quote the Commodores. Shout out to The Coach for that reminder.

4.      Given what’s happening with McCaffrey and Hargrave, and what could happen with injuries in the weeks to follow, do the Niners need to be aggressive at the deadline?

The NFL pushed the trade deadline back to after the Week 9 games, Tuesday November 4th at 1 Pacific. The Niners bye falls on Week 9, they play games on October 27 and November 10, with the bye in-between. The November 10 game is at Tampa Bay.

Provided the Niners are .500 or better I would expect them to shop at the deadline. If they are 3-5 or worse, they may still deal, but it would be overly optimistic to give up draft picks for player rentals on a sub .500 team.

The rumored target is former 49ers nose tackle D.J. Jones. The run-stuffing defensive tackle is on the final year of his deal in Denver. However, the Broncos may want to keep him, as they could be around .500 at the deadline.

At running back, the Niners can look to sign Matt Breida off the street, or possibly deal a 7th to New England for ex-Niners running back JaMycal Hasty. Either one meets Shanahan’s predilection for players with experience in his system.

There aren’t many trade options that line up for the Niners needs who play on bad teams. San Francisco may enter the deadline looking to deal and come away empty due to a lack of available options.

Adding Breida or Hasty makes sense, I think the Niners could add one of them, but the rest of the shopping will likely be street free agents.

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