49ers coach Kyle Shanahan addressed the Christian McCaffrey injury on Wednesday.
Many NFL fans were stunned on Monday when the San Francisco 49ers announced that star running back Christian McCaffrey was going to miss the season opener against the Jets due to a lingering calf injury. McCaffrey's injury had been hanging around all through training camp, but all indications were that he would be a full go for Week 1 until just before kickoff.
On Tuesday, Kyle Shanahan revealed that McCaffrey has been dealing with Achilles tendinitis, and that is what held him out of the season opener. However, he shut down the notion that the injury is more serious than it seems and that McCaffrey could go on injured reserve, according to ESPN's Nick Wagoner.
“Wednesday, Shanahan was asked whether there was any thought given to shutting McCaffrey down and placing him on injured reserve,” Wagoner wrote. “Shanahan quickly shot that idea down.
“‘No, I've never considered that,' Shanahan said. ‘We considered that he would play last week, so definitely not thinking about four weeks off.'”
The 49ers and their elite offense didn't skip a beat without McCaffrey in the lineup, as they moved the ball well against a very stout Jets defense all night en route to a comfortable 32-19 win. Backup running back Jordan Mason had a career day, rushing for 147 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries.
Shanahan is such an elite play caller that the 49ers can withstand an injury to McCaffrey for a few weeks. After all, they still have George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel as weapons on that side of the ball. However, McCaffrey's versatility and ability to line up anywhere and hurt the defense in multiple ways would be severely missed if he was forced to miss extended time. The fact that injured reserve isn't even on the table at this moment is a major positive for San Francisco.
