Don’t expect that San Francisco 49ers to take their foot off the gas in their use of running back Christian McCaffrey.
McCaffrey returned in Week 10 after missing the first nine weeks nursing Achilles tendinitis. It stood to reason that its use might start slowly and then increase.
Instead, he played 88 percent of the snaps, accounted for 13 of 18 designed carries and received seven of 36 available targets — the second most on the team. Although it seems like a heavy workload, head coach Kyle Shanahan indicated Monday after the team’s victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that he has no plans to slow down the load. of McCaffrey’s work.
“I didn’t think we rode it hard enough,” Shanahan said. “But no, I think we were good with that and we’ll see how this year goes. It was our first game with him. I think he had 19 touches, which I think is a little less than last year But it was our first game back with him and we didn’t want him to go too many sets in a row. We started to eliminate him, I think we did between. two series in the first half, and once we only had one drive in the third quarter and we got into that fourth quarter, we didn’t knock it out in the fourth so we’ll see how the year goes.
With key matchups against the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers, the 49ers will likely end up leaning on McCaffrey even more before reducing his usage.
Some injury management will be necessary, but early on it appears the team will do it by limiting their practice reps. Once the games begin, things seem to be business as usual with McCaffrey as the focal point of the 49ers offense.
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This article was originally published on Niners Wire: How much will 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey play in Week 11 against the Seahawks?
