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Why 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey's Achilles Strain is so Concerning

McCaffrey's Achilles strain will be one of the most important storylines to follow this season.

Grant Cohn

Dec 31, 2023; Landover, Maryland, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) is tackled by Washington Commanders linebacker Cody Barton (57) during the second half at FedExField. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images
Dec 31, 2023; Landover, Maryland, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) is tackled by Washington Commanders linebacker Cody Barton (57) during the second half at FedExField. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images / Brad Mills-Imagn Images
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It seems that Christian McCaffrey will attempt to play through an Achilles strain this Monday night in the 49ers' season opener against the New York Jets.

Considering the football season is incredibly long and we're only at Week 1, you'd think it would make sense to sit McCaffrey so he can have extra time to rest and recover. But rest might not fix his injury.

Remember, he initially injured his calf/Achilles against the Washington Commanders in Week 17 of last season. He left that game in the third quarter and did not return, then he took the following two weeks off as the 49ers rested their starters in Week 18 and had a Bye week in the first round of the playoffs. And even after all that rest, McCaffrey wasn't quite himself in the playoffs when he averaged just 4.5 yards per carry -- down from 5.4 yards per carry in the regular season.

Then McCaffrey had an entire offseason to rest his Achilles. And yet he reinjured it almost immediately during training camp -- just after the 49ers gave him a new contract with lots of guaranteed money in it.

Which means his Achilles might never fully recover. This injury could be part of his gradual aging process. So sitting him for a week could be fruitless. His best course of action at this point in his career could be to play as much as he can while he can and live with the consequences.

McCaffrey's Achilles strain will be one of the most important storylines to follow this season.

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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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