Keeping running back Christian McCaffrey healthy is an essential piece of a successful training camp for the San Francisco 49ers.
McCaffrey missed the first eight weeks of last regular season because of bilateral Achilles tendinitis that flared up early in training camp and cost him the preseason. Then he hurt his knee in Week 13 and missed the remaining five weeks. The 49ers offense sputtered without the reigning Offensive Player of the Year. Now this year they’re aiming to keep him healthy by limiting his workload some in camp.
“This has been part of the plan,” Shanahan said. “Christian gets frustrated with it. He wants to be out there, he wants to do everything, but Christian also is very smart and knows what the deal is and knows that we do need to protect him from himself. So, he’s on board with it all, but I know he is feeling good and when he feels good he doesn’t like days off. But he understands why he’s got to.”
Given McCaffrey’s importance to the offense it’s difficult to fault the 49ers for anything they want to do in camp to make sure he’s ready to go for Week 1. They can’t just put him on ice and have him out of shape and knocking off rust for the first several weeks, but they also can’t give him every first-team rep at every practice.
So far McCaffrey has participated throughout the offseason without any issues, but it’s hard to envision the 49ers doing anything to put unnecessary wear-and-tear on the 29-year-old RB in camp.
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This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers being careful with superstar’s workload after 2 major injuries last season
Reporting by Kyle Madson, Niners Wire / Niners Wire
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