Kyle Shanahan Discusses Whether Christian McCaffrey will Play this Week

McCaffrey's status remains up in the air.

Oct 20, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan reacts after the Kansas City Chiefs picked up a first down in the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images / Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

SANTA CLARA -- Kyle Shanahan was asked on Wednesday whether San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey will play Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Here's what Shanahan said.

Q: How did Christian fare in Monday's practice and does he still seem on track to play on Monday?

SHANAHAN: "Yeah, he was good. We didn't do too much, but he had no pain, was good yesterday and excited to get him out there today."

Q: At what point do you think there will be a decision as to whether or not Christian will play on Sunday?

SHANAHAN: "Publicly? Kickoff."

Q: What do you need to see from him and what does he need to tell you?

SHANAHAN: "That he's just Christian McCaffrey and he's not hurting. As long as everything goes well, and it has in the rehab, as long as he doesn't get sore and have setbacks each day with practice -- usually if you get that in practice that means it's going to be worse in the game -- so hopefully he can string together three days in a row and not have any of those."

Q: If he does look like the Christian of old, does his workload become the workload of old?

SHANAHAN: "It definitely could, but it also definitely might not."

Q: He did have a heavy workload last year. Is there any thought that the issues he is dealing with not are related to the 20 games a year ago?

SHANAHAN: "I don't believe that. I don't think he believes that. I think things happen to a body, I think this happened in the offseason, so I don't think it has to do with numbers. When a guy is healthy and good, they're usually good. We're going to have to see where his conditioning is at and how his football conditioning is. Usually, I don't chalk up numbers one year to affect an injury the next year."

ME: When you're making the game plan for this week, do you have to make one with Christian and one without him?

SHANAHAN: "Yeah have to do like always. Guys have different traits, so whether a guy is going 10 plays, 30 plays or all plays or whether he gets hurt in the first series or sick before the game, it's the same as always."

Download and follow The Best 49ers Podcast.