Why the 49ers Have to be Mindful With the Usage of Christian McCaffrey

Christian McCaffrey did it all for the 49ers in their win against the Rams, but that is not a standard they should be upholding with him for every single game.

Christian McCaffrey went off in the 49ers' win over the Rams in Week 8.

That game perfectly illustrated why the 49ers went out and acquired McCaffrey. He is well worth the haul of draft picks the 49ers gave up for him if he is going to be that dominant. 

However, as superb of a performance as that was from him, the 49ers have to be mindful with the usage of McCaffrey. Having him be utilized so heavily as he was against the Rams should not be the standard they are setting for him. The last thing they want is to run McCaffrey into the ground causing him to pop up on the injury report. He is an injury prone player after all. The fortune he has had this season with injuries is going splendidly, so fingers crossed that continues. 

Still, the 49ers must not press their luck with it. The only reason they had to call upon McCaffrey to carry the offense is because Deebo Samuel was out. With no other tenured 49ers player to turn to on the offense, Kyle Shanahan had to look to his newly acquired weapon in McCaffrey. The usage was out of necessity. The last thing the 49ers could have afforded was dropping to 3-5 heading into the Bye week. Getting the offense to find a spark was also critical as McCaffrey improved the offense in every facet.

With Samuel returning, which is still up in the air against the Chargers, the 49ers do not need McCaffrey to lead the charge. It isn't so much the amount of playing time and snaps he's getting -- McCaffrey was only in on 81 percent of the snaps, which is a fine number. The number of times he gets the ball is what should taper off. Now, I am not advocating that the 49ers never use him the same as they did against the Rams. If there is a critical game they need with playoff implications, then by all means do it.

They just shouldn't view the Rams game as the standard to his usage. The point of brining McCaffrey wasn't so he could do it all himself with the ball in his hands. He is still an incredibly impactful player without the ball as well. Samuel should start to see increased efficiency, Jimmy Garoppolo should start to be more consistent, and Elijah Mitchell returning should give them one of the best running attacks in the league.

McCaffrey can do it all for the 49ers with or without the ball. Just simply motioning him is going to make the defense key in on him because they cannot afford to brush him off as a decoy. This all falls on Shanahan ultimately. If he needs McCaffrey to be the carrier of the offense like he was against the Rams, then perhaps there needs to be questions regarding his creativity. He has plenty of pieces to give the offense unique looks and put the defense on their heels. 

I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he will be able maximize the talents he has and get the offense clicking. They do not need McCaffrey to go off every game like he did against the Rams. I'm sure there will be stretches that require it, but the 49ers should be good enough to be lethal even without giving him the ball the vast majority of the time.