Christian McCaffrey was again listed as limited in practice on Friday as the San Francisco 49ers continued their preparations for their Monday Night Football opener against the New York Jets.
But there is little doubt surrounding the reigning Offensive Player of the Year's availability for the game, at least his mind.
McCaffrey is officially designated as dealing with a calf/Achilles injury, having returned to practice this week after missing the entirety of the preseason.
However, the star running back needed only a few words to make it clear he will likely be used in the same capacity and to same the extent as he was during a spectacular 2023 campaign in which he was the bellcow of the San Francisco offense.
"Nope," McCaffrey responded when asked if he had any doubt he would play in Week 1.
Pressed if he would have his typically heavy workload, McCaffrey said: "Hope so."
McCaffrey's confidence echoes that of general manager John Lynch, who told KNBR: "Christian's doing great.We've got to finish the week here, but he looks like Christian, and that's a good thing for us.
"He's looked like Christian out here at practice. We had a bonus [practice] here on Tuesday ... and he was there. He was out there yesterday. So Christian's looking really good.
"Obviously, we want to see him progress through the week, but we had confidence that Christian would be ready, and he's doing very well. He takes tremendous care of his body and takes so much pride in that, and he'll be out there and ready to roll."
While McCaffrey is gearing up for the game, both Yetur Gross-Matos (knee) and Dee Winters (ankle) appear set to miss out after they each again missed practice.
49ers injury report
