Christian McCaffrey Misses 49ers Practice, While Arik Armstead Returns

Christian McCaffrey is missing in action for the 49ers Wednesday practice, while Arik Armstead makes his return after about two months out.

Some good and bad news for the San Francisco 49ers.

Let's start off with the bad news. Christian McCaffrey is missing Wednesday's practice with knee irritation. McCaffrey started feeling his knee bothering him in the game against the Saints and was missing in action for a stretch of the game because of it. He ended up finishing the game, so the injury doesn't appear severe.

Still, McCaffrey dealing with any sort of injury that is limiting him is added force to a gut punch. The 49ers already received that punch when they lost Elijah Mitchell for at least six weeks to an MCL sprain. Mitchell and McCaffrey were making a great impact on the field as the two rotated in and out for each other. It aided the offense tremendously.

The last thing the 49ers can afford is having McCaffrey missing time no matter how short it is. His absence from today's practice is the smart call by the 49ers, but it does put his status heading into Sunday's game with the Dolphins into question. The next two practices will give a clearer indication as to whether or not he will be up for the highly anticipated matchup with the Dolphins. 

As for the good news, Arik Armstead returned to practice in limited fashion after dealing with plantar fasciitis and an ankle fracture for almost two months. Bad luck is an understatement of what Armstead has endured this season with injuries. The 49ers will be elated to have Armstead back as the pass rush could definitely use a boost. It has pretty much been Nick Bosa as the lone wolf in that department, so Armstead returning, even if he is on snap count, will be tremendous.

Here is how the rest of the injury report looks like for the 49ers on Wednesday:

Charles Omenihu (knee), Spencer Burford (ankle), and Elijah Mitchell (knee) were out of practice. Deebo Samuel was a limited participant with a quad issue and Jimmy Garoppolo was a full participant with a knee issue.