Christian McCaffrey is regularly compared to Marshall Faulk because of his remarkable dual-threat ability as a running back.
Before McCaffrey’s emergence, Faulk and 49ers legend Roger Craig were held up as the gold standard for backs who could do significant damage as a receiver as well as with their running ability.
McCaffrey’s exceptional production on the ground and as a pass-catcher for the 49ers has seen him join their ranks and establish himself as a clear all-time great dual-threat back.
And,
while his previous injuries may prevent McCaffrey from matching Faulk’s counting stats for his career, he can surpass the Hall of Famer on Sunday in one respect if he has a receiving touchdown on Sunday.
Should McCaffrey haul in a touchdown reception against the Denver Broncos, that would mark his 37th receiving touchdown.
That number would see McCaffrey move clear of Faulk (36) and claim the outright record for receiving touchdowns by a running back in the Super Bowl era.
If McCaffrey has a touchdown of any sort and racks up at least 100 scrimmage yards, he will tie Jim Brown (55) for the fifth-most games with a minimum of 100 scrimmage yards and a score.
Only Pro Football Hall of Famers Emmitt Smith (74), Faulk (66), LaDainian Tomlinson (61) and Barry Sanders (57) have more such games to their name.
Faulk finished his illustrious career with 19,154 scrimmage yards, while McCaffrey has 13,249 after three games of his 10th NFL season. The math is against him bridging that gap, but it is highly likely he will snatch a piece of league history from Faulk in the very near future.
