Chris Foerster Says Christian McCaffrey Refuses to get Subbed Out

How interezs

SANTA CLARA -- On Thursday, I asked 49ers run game coordinator Chris Foerster about Christian McCaffrey's staggering workload. Foerster's answer was extremely interesting. Here's what he said.

Q: Christian McCaffrey is leading the league in touches. When you see that, do you think, "It's a long season, let's back off," or "This is a Hall of Fame caliber running back, let's press the issue?"

FOERSTER: I'm a big believer in a two-running-back system. And we have other good players, and you want to give them those reps so you don't tear your guy down. I say that to Christian, and he says, "I'm fine." He feels he can carry the load. He does carry the load on third down -- that's very important. So you do have to be careful that one of those guys gets in there and spells him some. Is it concerning? We've had a lot of plays. It just kind of happened. Christian is out there a lot. You just have to be careful with anybody who's in harm's way. You just have to be careful at times and see if you're overdoing it. But if you tell Christian that, he'll say, "No, I want every touch, every carry, every pass -- I want to be out there every snap."

Q: Is he tough to bring off the field?

FOERSTER: "It's really tough, yeah. He doesn't want to come off. He didn't want to come off after the big hit on Sunday. I think part of that was he wanted everybody to know he's OK. Officials thought he might have had a concussion. And then we wanted to get him out for a play, but he said, "No, I'm not coming out of the game." He wanted to get back at them -- that was his mentality, I think. That's Christian.

Q: How many players on the team can do that, refuse to come off the field?

FOERSTER: "There's a couple. And you trust him. You're like, "Hey dude, do you need a rep?" And he's like, "No, I'm good." Other times you're like, "No, get over here."

GRANT'S TAKE: So in other words, the 49ers aren't overusing McCaffrey, McCaffrey is overusing McCaffrey. That's pure pride. Someone needs to talk to him.