Fantasy Football owners and some national media seemed to be a bit ahead of the rest of us when it came to the health of Christian McCaffrey. But once he missed Monday night's game against the New York Jets, 49ers fans' radars were up. Were the 49ers fully honest with McCaffrey's health all summer long, or is his calf tightness, Achilles tendinitis combo meal injury one of those injuries that isn't easy to diagnose or even figure out?
The 49ers had to officially place him on the injured reserve list before Sunday's game two against the Minnesota Vikings. The soonest he could return is October 10 against the Seattle Seahawks.
On Friday, Shanahan said that it was his worst day and that they were going to consider IR.
Kyle Shanahan: "Yesterday was his worst day. It's on and off, but with yesterday, having the most pain, (injured reserve) is something we're going to be discussing here in the next 24 hours.” https://t.co/lgMy8BaS63
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) September 13, 2024
It does mean that as long as he stays healthy, Jordan Mason is going to be the starting running back until McCaffrey is healthy and back. And it also probably means that Deebo Samuel will see a lot of work out of the backfield, like he did against the Jets.
There is a lot of interest in what rookie running back Isaac Guerendo can do, but he was injured during the pre-season and wasn't able to practice much. While he might get a chance to be in some packages on Sunday, it's hard to think that they'd give him a lot of work considering his inexperience and Mason's big game on Monday night.
Rod and I will be back after the afternoon games with our post game livestream talking about the 49ers vs. the Vikings week two matchup.
