Christian McCaffrey Sits Again, and 2024 Déjà Vu Is Setting In
McCaffrey missed another practice Sunday. The last time the 49ers downplayed a camp injury, he didn't play until Week 10.
Still the RB1, but monitor the practice reports before Week 1.
- Missed practice again Sunday, Aug. 17
- Led NFL with 413 touches in 2025 (17 games)
- 2,284 career regular-season touches in 9 years
- Turns the corner at age 30 for RBs
- Our RB1 with 417 PPR pts in 2025
Christian McCaffrey did not practice again on Sunday, another day added to a string of DNPs that's starting to feel a little too familiar in San Francisco. Kyle Shanahan has waved it off, but the last time he downplayed a camp issue with McCaffrey, things went sideways fast.
Rewind to 2024: the calf injury got minimized all summer, McCaffrey landed on the inactive list for the season opener, and an Achilles problem kept him out until Week 10. That's the ghost hanging over this one. When a team is this careful with a running back who just turned 30, the caution itself becomes the story.
And there's plenty of reason for the 49ers to be careful. McCaffrey led the entire league with 413 regular-season touches across 17 games in 2025 — a monstrous workload for anyone, let alone a back with 2,284 career touches on the odometer. At his age, every one of those carries and targets carries a little more risk than it used to.
So which is it: proactive maintenance or the early signs of something more? For now the smart read is that San Francisco is protecting McCaffrey from himself. But the parallels to two summers ago are impossible to ignore, and if the DNPs keep piling up into late August, the concern level should climb with them.
The Fantasy Fallout
None of this changes what McCaffrey is on paper. He's our RB1 heading into 2026-27, coming off a 417-PPR-point actual season in 2025 (17 games) that included 1,202 rushing yards, 10 rushing scores, and 102 catches for 924 yards and 7 more TDs. His last five games of 2025 ran 3.4 fantasy points below his season average, but that's noise next to the ceiling he offers.
If you've got him, hold — there's no realistic upgrade at the position and panic-selling the RB1 over August practice reps is how you lose leagues. Just don't sleepwalk into draft day. Track every practice update between now and Week 1, and if he's still not on the field by late August, make sure you've got a real handcuff plan before you're forced into one.
