The San Francisco 49ers are hoping for a resurgent season in 2025 from running back Christian McCaffrey.
What the 49ers need is the 2023 version of McCaffrey, who led the league with 1,459 rushing yards and added 14 rushing touchdowns. He caught 67 passes for 564 yards with another seven touchdown catches.
Expectations are sometimes different from reality, especially when McCaffrey is recovering from two separate injuries that sidelined him for 13 games last season.
But regardless of McCaffrey's recent injury history, the San Francisco backfield is ranked No. 12 in ProFootballFocus' recent grades.
"The 49ers are one of the hardest teams to project for this list, given Christian McCaffrey’s recent injury history," wrote PFF's Dalton Wasserman. "Across 2022 and 2023, he was the NFL’s highest-graded running back. His injuries in 2024 limited him to just 167 snaps and a 71.3 PFF overall grade. McCaffrey is supremely talented, but he enters his age-29 season with more questions than ever.
"Isaac Guerendo did a decent job in spot duty last season, earning a 67.2 PFF rushing grade. The team also added fifth-round rookie Jordan James, who recorded an elite 95.7 PFF rushing grade over the past two seasons at Oregon."
Don't expect McCaffrey to be reintroduced to the offense slowly; however, that is the custom sometimes when players return from injury.
Offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak thinks McCaffrey will be fine if the team is smart with his usage.
"You're always cognizant of the reps you're putting on guys, especially in practice, when we do that with Christian all the time, we monitor his reps, and you have to be smart when you're in games," Kubiak continued. "You have to be cognizant of how much they're out there.
