Richard Sherman Says Christian McCaffrey Could Have Played vs. Dallas

With all due respect to Sherman, I don't put much stock into his report.

Oct 24, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Richard Sherman on the Thursday Night Football Tonight set at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

It sounds as though Christian McCaffrey will play Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The 49ers have been tight-lipped about their exact plans for McCaffrey. But former 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman seems extremely confident that McCaffrey's return is imminent.

"I heard it from the horse’s mouth," Sherman said on his podcast. "He feels really good, and he felt like he could have probably played last week, but they wanted to be overly cautious and just give him more weeks of practice and more time to work that thing out to feel comfortable, and feel confident, and he does… All signs point to him playing, and probably a significant role in this game."

With all due respect to Sherman, I don't put much stock into his report.

I'm sure McCaffrey felt good two weeks ago, but he didn't practice then. He needs to prove that he can feel good after four practices in five days. Because it's easy to feel good when you're not playing football.

For what it's worth, when McCaffrey initially went down with bilateral Achilles' tendonitis in training camp, he said he could have played in the preseason if the games counted and that he was sitting out only to be overly cautious. So we've heard this from him before.

As far as McCaffrey's return goes, don't listen to things people say. Because people say lots of things. Focus on what you know and what you can see. And so far, all we know is this: McCaffrey hasn't been a full participant in practice yet this week. Maybe that will change soon.

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