Kyle Shanahan wants to ease off 1 star 49ers player…
San Francisco 49ers Coach Kyle Shanahan recently suggested that he might want to go a little easier on one of his star players, running back Christian McCaffrey.
Shanahan discussed the possibility of slightly reducing McCaffrey’s workload after the star running back led the league with 339 touches in 2023. He acknowledged that McCaffrey hates coming out of games, but emphasized that the 49ers have a responsibility to “protect him from himself.”
“We have to protect Christian from himself,” Shanahan admitted, via Matt Barrows and David Lombardi of The Athletic. “He doesn’t like to ever come out no matter what the situation is, and I do think that’s something we could protect him with more. When you are such a threat in the pass game, it’s a little bit different. But if he’s just taking the wear and tear with 20 carries every game — and he’s definitely good enough to do that and he has proved he can stay healthy — but you’d like to take some of that off of him and give it to other guys also.”
McCaffrey was so vital to the 49ers offense in 2023 that the team had trouble taking him off the field. He rewarded them with 2,023 all-purpose yards and 21 total touchdowns, but the team would certainly like to rely a bit less on him going forward. Despite his heavy usage, they managed to avoid any serious injuries, although there were definitely a few scares.
McCaffrey will probably want to atone for a significant mistake he made in the Super Bowl, but that is why Shanahan is stressing the necessity of protecting him, whether he likes it or not.
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