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Will 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey Play Against the Buccaneers?

If McCaffrey manages to play against the Buccaneers, the 49ers would be wise to use him judiciously and not wear him down like they did last season.

Grant Cohn

Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) walks on the field before the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) walks on the field before the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
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Technically, Christian McCaffrey could return as soon as Sunday against Tampa Bay.

The 49ers opened McCaffrey's practice window on Monday and could activate him to the 53-man roster this Saturday assuming he has no setback in practice this week. McCaffrey has missed the first nine weeks of the season with bilateral Achilles tendonitis, and injury that could lead to a full-blown Achilles tear if not managed carefully. Which is the 49ers might want to slow-play McCaffrey's return.

But the 49ers are 4-4 and currently sit in third place in the NFC West. Their best chance to make it into the playoffs is to win the division and they've already lost to the Cardinals and Rams, both of whom have easier schedules than the 49ers the rest of the way. If they were to lose to the Buccaneers this weekend, their playoff chances would drop significantly. So I'm guessing the 49ers would like McCaffrey to play if he's capable.

But Mccaffrey hasn't been able to practice for more than a week at a time without reinjuring his Achilles. He practiced for a week during training camp, felt sore and the 49ers shut him down for a month. Then he practiced for a week leading up to the season opener against the Jets, felt sore once again and the 49ers shut him down for the next two months. So he still has a ton to prove.

If McCaffrey manages to play against the Buccaneers, the 49ers would be wise to use him judiciously and not wear him down like they did last 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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