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How the 49ers Have Reinvented Themselves Without Christian McCaffrey

Grant Cohn

Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk (44) talks with running back Christian McCaffrey (23) on the sideline during the second quarter against the New York Jets at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk (44) talks with running back Christian McCaffrey (23) on the sideline during the second quarter against the New York Jets at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images / David Gonzales-Imagn Images
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When Christian McCaffrey was healthy the past two seasons, he was the 49ers' offensive identity.

Virtually every game plan revolved around handing him the ball and/or throwing him the ball as much as he could physically handle. And the result was a Super Bowl appearance, an Offensive Player of the Year Award and bilateral Achilles tendonitis.

Now McCaffrey is out for at least a few more weeks as he tries to rehabilitate both of his Achilles tendons. Which means the 49ers need to reinvent themselves and find a new offensive identity, at least until McCaffrey returns. If he returns.

When McCaffrey was healthy, the 49ers passing game relied on play-action and yards after the catch. This season, the 49ers rank near the bottom of the league in those statistics. Instead, they drop back and throw downfield farther than just about any other team.

They're still a run-first offense and they still use the zone-blocking scheme. Those are the basic principles of Kyle Shanahan's offense. But when they pass, they can't use the threat of McCaffrey to help get other players open. That's why Purdy has thrown so many contested passes this season.

And that's why Jauan Jennings has emerged as the 49ers' no. 1 wide receiver. Now that McCaffrey isn't around to help Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk get open, they need Jennings to make contested catches which he does better than just about anyone in the NFL.

And so despite the loss of McCaffrey, the 49ers still have the second-ranked offense in the NFL through the first quarter of the season.

Impressive.

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Grant Cohn
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.

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