Brock Purdy on How the 49ers Pass Game Suffers without Christian McCaffrey

Without him running routes and drawing the attention of the defense, Purdy put up solid but unspectatular numbers and his weapons struggled to get open.

Dec 17, 2023; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) and running back Christian McCaffrey (23) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

SANTA CLARA -- The 49ers running game didn't miss Christian McCaffrey Week 1 considering Jordan Mason ran for 147 yards by himself.

Interestingly enough, where the 49ers missed McCaffrey most was in the passing game. Without him running routes and drawing the attention of the defense, Purdy put up solid but unspectatular numbers and his weapons struggled to get open.

On Thursday, Purdy explained how McCaffrey's presence makes everyone's job easier.

“I think just with Christian, especially there's certain plays, third-down where we like to get him out and throw to him and stuff like that," Purdy said. "And so there's a lot of teams that can either double team him and then open up some other guys within our offense. And so that's something that we sort of have to remember. That's a huge aspect, teams always have to account for him and have a whole plan for Christian. He's the best in the league at it. And so when he is not out there, I think it sort of not necessarily simplifies things for defenses, but that's a component that they don't have to really handle and then they can focus on George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel. So that's something that for us that we have to understand. And as a quarterback, I always like having that because I think it does open up other guys.”

In the past, teams had to spend so much time preparing for all the different ways the 49ers use McCaffrey that they couldn't spend nearly as much time preparig for players such as Brandon Aiyuk. Which is a huge reason Aiyuk put up such big numbers last year. Call it the McCaffrey Effect.

Without McCaffrey on the field this past weekend, Aiyuk caught just two passes for 28 yards. He was a shell of himself. To be fair, he missed all of training camp and clearly isn't in peak football shape yet. Still, his production most likely will return to normal when McCaffrey returns. That's how important McCaffrey is.