How Jeff Wilson Jr. Feels about the 49ers Trading for Christian McCaffrey

Wilson Jr. is averaging 4.9 yards per carry this season while McCaffrey is averaging 4.6 yards per carry.

Grant Cohn | Oct 21, 2022

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San Francisco 49ers

SANTA CLARA -- On Thursday, the 49ers traded four draft picks for Christian McCaffrey, who has 393 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns on 85 carries this season, to replace Jeff Wilson Jr., who has 400 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns on 80 carries this season.

Here's what Wilson Jr. said Friday about the 49ers spending so much capital to add McCaffrey.

WILSON Jr.: "When you get a player like that, you're happy and excited. I just can't wait to have him on the team. He's an electrifying player. Along with getting us hyped, he's going to get the crowd involved, too. Just to have that player, he's a big help."

Q: Do you think you guys compliment each other with his speed and your power?

WILSON Jr.: "Oh yeah. I know Kyle Shanahan is a mastermind. He's a wizard. He's up there coming up with all types of things."

Q: What was it like at practice with McCaffrey coming in halfway through?

WILSON Jr.: "He came in when we finished our session. We were off on the side, so everybody got to meet him at once, and then everybody got back to practice. And he was locked in, picking up on new stuff, learning from the coaches."

Q: Would you be surprised if he plays on Sunday?

WILSON Jr.: "No. He's a vet, and I know he's a smart player -- that's why he has been in the league and the position he has been in his entire life. Even at Stanford, I used to watch him. To have him here is going to bring a lot to the table.

Q: Your numbers are pretty darn good since you took over as the starter here. Do you read anything into that, or is it just the team adding a good player?

WILSON Jr.: "People always tell me I need to pay attention to my personal stats. I don't pay attention to them. I just want to play football and do what I can the best I can any time I can."

Q: You guys have Elijah Mitchell coming back in a few weeks. Do you guys feel you have the best running back room in the NFL?

WILSON Jr.: "No doubt. We felt that way before Christian got here. So adding him, we feel that way even more now. Stamp it. If it's a check, take it to the bank and cash it. We have the best group in the NFL. That's bottom line."

Published Oct 21, 2022

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.