2023 NFL Offensive Player of the Year is back: San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan announced that running back Christian McCaffrey (Achilles tendonitis) will be activated off injured reserve on Saturday. That will allow him to make his debut in the 2024 season on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“We’ll take him off IR tomorrow and then he’ll be ready,” Shanahan said on friday. “Unless something crazy happens on this plane ride, I should be good to go tomorrow once I get out of IR.”
McCaffrey, who led the NFL in rushing yards (1,459) and scrimmage yards (2,023) while co-leading the league in scrimmage touchdowns (21) last season, feels great and ready to battle on Sunday afternoon.
“The last eight weeks have been extremely unfortunate,” McCaffrey said, via NBC Sports Bay Area, on Friday. “For me, it’s very hard to be injured. It’s hard physically, mentally and emotionally, especially when it doesn’t go as you planned. It wasn’t what you expected. Some things just went wrong, but now I feel great. Ready to go.”
His recovery became so serious at one point that he traveled to Germany to seek alternative treatments for his injury, something he declined to go into detail about when asked.
“I keep all that private,” McCaffrey said. “When you’re on IR and you’re hurt, you do anything to get back. So now I feel good. That’s all that matters.”
When he finally returned to practice on Monday, McCaffrey was overcome with gratitude.
“Sometimes it can be dark and, especially with something like this, you feel like you have to watch games, you feel physical pain,” McCaffrey said. “There are a lot of things involved in this. I think about football every day of my life. It consumes about 98% of my life, so when it doesn’t go well, it can be very difficult. But the only thing I know is that it makes you Realize how blessed and lucky you are to play when you’re on that field.”
The 49ers, who are 4-4 this season without him, could take a big leap now that McCaffrey is back. They are 22-5 with CMC in the lineup since signing him in 2022, and have outscored opponents by an average of 12.4 points per game when he suits up.
