Christian McCaffrey’s status will continue to be judged on the fly, his availability to be determined by how he’s feeling with an eye toward the long haul rather than a specific gameday, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said Tuesday.
McCaffrey was a surprise scratch from Monday night’s 32-19 win over the New York Jets at Levi’s Stadium with a calf/Achilles injury.
And it’s been an issue that’s been going on for some time, meaning there could be a lot more Jordan Mason in the 49ers’ immediate future with the Minnesota Vikings coming up in Week 2 on the road.
Mason gained 147 yards on 28 carries, both career highs, and had a touchdown against the Jets.
McCaffrey had a calf strain in Week 17 last season against Washington, then sat out the regular season finale against the Los Angeles Rams. He was on the injury report with a calf injury in the divisional playoff win over Green Bay, but made it through the playoffs.
However, McCaffrey, long a tempo-setting dervish in practice, stayed out of the fray for the most part while a two-year contract extension was negotiated. At the club’s mandatory minicamp in July, McCaffrey told the NFL Network he was fine and he’d be playing if it was a real game.
Except when the real games started, McCaffrey wasn’t playing. Why? According to Shanahan, because it’s not a playoff game.
“If it was a playoff game, he made it very clear to me that he believed he could go,” Shanahan said Tuesday in a conference call with local writers. “But when you hear that type of stuff and it’s not a playoff game and it’s Week 1 — especially if you’re dealing with lower extremities like that — it was a tough decision. But hearing all the words and stuff, in the long run it made it easy.”
In any event, McCaffrey’s condition will be watched closely with an eye toward keeping him healthy through the season rather than risking further injury in a delicate area that is prone to setbacks and re-injury.
“It’s not just a calf, it’s an Achilles and Achilles tendonitis — and that stuff comes and goes,” Shanahan said. “When it’s acting up it’s something you’ve got to be very careful about.”
It was a calf/Achilles condition in 2019 that led to the Warriors’ Kevin Durant eventually rupturing his Achilles’ in the NBA Finals. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw was sidelined with Achilles’ tendonitis in Week 18 against the Rams last season and eventually blew out his Achilles running onto the field in the Super Bowl.
So while McCaffrey is being listed as “day to day,” go ahead and assume the 49ers won’t put last year’s NFL Offensive Player of the Year back in the lineup until they believe the risk is minimal.
Shanahan said the only other injuries coming out of the Jets game were a calf injury to guard Aaron Banks and an ankle injury to wide receiver Jauan Jennings. Both, Shanahan said will be day to day.
Determinations on whether defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos (knee), safety Talanoa Hufanga (knee) and linebacker Dee Winters (ankle) can face Minnesota will be made during the course of the week, Shanahan said.
Williams holds up
Left tackle Trent Williams played 70-of-72 snaps after missing all of training camp and participating in just four practices heading into the games. Shanahan was curious to see how Williams would do, but not surprised at the end result.
“You never know how someone’s going to come back when you haven’t seen ’em for that long,” Shanahan said. “But just watching him in that Monday practice, and seeing how he was by Wednesday, gave us a good sign he was going to be all right.”
Williams said afterward he was in “uncharted territory” and needed two IVs to get through it, but didn’t expect any issues heading into Week 2 in Minnesota.
Collins excels in debut
The final game book showed 37 snaps and just two tackles, but defensive tackle Maliek Collins consistently beat blocks inside and was a dominant force inside against the Jets. Collins was signed in the offseason to replace the departed Arik Armstead.
Shanahan had what amounted to a ton of respect for the way Collins played.
“Maliek, I think, showed up a ton,” Shanahan said. “I was really pumped with him. He flashed a ton, got off blocks, played with a ton of energy, made a number of plays and that was a hell of a first game for him as a 49er.”
On the outside, the pairing of Nick Bosa and Leonard Floyd had a promising debut as well.
Bosa played 48-of-51 snaps and Floyd 34. Floyd had the 49ers’ lone sack of Aaron Rodgers and Bosa had a pair of quarterback hits.
“I thought both fed off each other very well,” Shanahan said. “Their conditioning was very good. They were able to go on the last play the same way they did on the first play. I expect them to get better and better.”
Said Bosa: “Floyd is just a ball of energy and can run. People think he’s a smaller, skinnier guy that can’t play the run but he’s as explosive as heck. Maliek is just a beast in the run game. Big guy. If he can do that all year we’re going to be in good shape.”
Puni passes another test
Rookie guard Dominic Puni, a third-round pick out of Kansas, hasn’t flinched since taking over the starting job on the right side upon arrival. His NFL opener was no different.
“He’s been this way in practice, he’s been this way in preseason and looked the same in Week 1,” Shanahan said. “He’s got to recover in six days and we’ll be playing on the road next week where it will be much louder so there will be some new challenges.”
Brian Baldinger, a former NFL lineman and Fox and NFL Network analyst, said on Twitter/X that Puni “didn’t have a bad play; didn’t have a penalty … 3rd round STUD.”
Shanahan says
On quarterback Brock Purdy’s play: “The way that game went, you get into the second half and I truly felt the only way they could get back into it is to have a bad turnover and Brock was very trusting with the football while still making plays.”
On PK Jake Moody’s maturity: “Every time that he got more eyes on him and people were waiting for him to fail, he always rebounded and got through those. I forget that he’s only a second-year player. He handles himself very well an carries himself like a true veteran now.”
On Jordan Mason’s running style: “There’s lots of styles that you can be successful running the ball, but you’d better be able to do it a certain way and not mess around with us. As soon as he got here, he hit the hole every single time.”