49ers running back Christian McCaffrey missed practice again Tuesday. Offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak attributed McCaffrey’s absence on Monday to tightness, with nothing more specific.
The concern is McCaffrey had calf tightness during the 2024 training camp that carried into the season. He played only four games with what was later announced as Achilles tendinitis and a separate injury to his posterior collateral ligament.
Coach Kyle Shanahan, though, said he is not concerned by McCaffrey’s current setback.
“No,” Shanahan said, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com. “My concern would be him toughing through tightness, like a lot of people do, and then hurting something bad, and then pulling something, which then, it could be a month. That would be our concern, so once we hear him talking a certain way, Christian’s a guy who needs to get prepared for Week 1. But also, we’re pretty confident in what he’s done before. We’re confident in what he’s done these two weeks, and we just want to make sure we don’t make it something to be concerned about.”
McCaffrey, 30, led the league with 413 touches last year. He finished the season with 311 carries for 1,202 yards with 10 touchdowns and caught 102 passes for 924 yards with seven touchdowns. He had 37 more touches in two postseason games, rushing 26 times for 83 yards, along with 11 catches for 105 yards with two scores.