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Is 49ers RB Chrsitian McCaffrey All the Way Back to Being Himself?

Christian McCaffrey certainly showed flashes of greatness Sunday during his season debut.

Grant Cohn

Nov 10, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) catches the ball over Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David (54) during the second half at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
Nov 10, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) catches the ball over Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David (54) during the second half at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
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Christian McCaffrey certainly showed flashes of greatness Sunday during his season debut.

For starters, he was excellent as a receiver. He caught six passes for 68 yards plus he made a clutch over-the-shoulder 30-yard catch in the fourth quarter. His presence definitely improved the passing game.

But as a runner, he was not the Christian McCaffrey we've grown accustomed to.

He gained just 39 yards on 13 carries. That's a mere three yards per carry. That's terrible. Part of the reason he didn't rush well is because the Buccaneers loaded the box to stop him. But teams have done that to McCaffrey his entire career. Loaded boxes never slowed down McCafrrey in the past.

The biggest reason he gained just 39 rushing yards is that he didn't get many after contact. Which means when he got hit, he went down. He had four yards after contact for the entire game.

It seems obvious that McCaffrey still is protecting himself on the field. Because even if he doesn't feel soreness in his Achilles tendons anymore, he knows he could rupture one at any moment. So he's being cautious until he feels he can let it rip and play with no hesitation.

I don't knock McCaffrey for playing with caution in his first game back. Any player would do the same thing after missing half a season and traveling to Germany to treat bilateral Achilles' tendonitis. But it seems he's a ways away from being able to carry the team on his back like he did last season.

Until further notice, he's a supporting actor, not the lead.

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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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