When it comes to the San Francisco 49ers and their offense, Christian McCaffrey is at the forefront of it.
Currently, the star running back is on pace for over 1,000 rushing yards and over 1,000 receiving
yards, which he’s done only once in his career: 2019. After an injury-riddled campaign in 2024, there was talk about keeping McCaffrey fresh throughout the season to make sure he was fully healthy come playoff time.
Instead, McCaffrey has seen the highest amount of carries in the NFL this season with 168. That’s over other high-volume stars like Jonathan Taylor, James Cook, and Josh Jacobs. He hasn’t been particularly efficient with them, averaging only 3.5 yards per carry, with his longest run of the season being only 16 yards. But, the volume has been sky-high, just as it was in 2023, when he was second in carries behind only Derrick Henry.
Then, you have to factor in the receiving volume, where McCaffrey currently stands seventh in the NFL. He’s second in the NFL in receptions (61) behind only JaMarr Chase, and third in targets (80) behind Chase and Chris Olave.
McCaffrey hasn’t been through any injuries so far this season, so there hasn’t been a need for load management. It’s also hard to take him off the field when considering how strong his abilities are in the passing game. But, the 49ers saw a boost from Brian Robinson Jr. last week, as the backup had five carries for 53 yards, including an 18-yard touchdown.
It was Robinson’s highest yardage of the year, improving his season average to 4.8 yards per carry. Nonetheless, the backup whom San Francisco traded a sixth-round pick for this offseason has not seen the field much this year, as McCaffrey has played in 85 percent of the team’s offensive snaps, which would be his highest share since 2019.
Should the 49ers look to lessen McCaffrey’s load over the second half of the season and distribute the carries more evenly among the team’s backups?
Head coach Kyle Shanahan praised Robinson for his performance over the weekend, noting the hope to keep getting him more opportunities, be it in the backfield or on special teams.
“I think Brian has really stepped it up these last couple weeks,” Shanahan said of Robinson. “He’s gotten a couple more opportunities, made some big plays on special teams, and hopefully we can get him in there more.”
But, there isn’t a plan to add another back into the mix with McCaffrey commanding so much volume on his own. Instead, Shanahan believes the two-back approach is the way to go, rather than involving Isaac Guerendo or Jordan James.
“[For Isaac Guerendo to get on the field], he needs to be better than the two backs in front of him. That’s how it was in the past,” Shanahan said. “He got his opportunities when JP [Jordan Mason] got hurt, got his opportunity to start when both of those guys got hurt, and he did very well with it. He’s just the third guy right now, and you don’t hand the ball off to two guys; you hand it off to one, and usually there’s a two-man rotation.
“Sometimes you can have a third, but with Christian being elite as he is in the pass game and protections and stuff, it’s kind of hard to get a three-man rotation there.”
McCaffrey is certainly deserving of commanding a heavy share of the volume. But, the 49ers need to hope that his production is sustainable over the second half of the season if he’s going to continue averaging over 27 touches per game.
