Kyle Shanahan on 49ers’ limited RB rotation: It’s hard to sit Christian McCaffrey

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – When the San Francisco 49ers went into their bye on Nov. 3, Jordan Mason was the NFL’s third-leading rusher with 685 yards.

Two weeks later, he has dropped to 12th place. Injuries? He was still nursing a shoulder sprain as the 49ers came out of the bye, but has not been listed on the practice report for the past week. A far greater obstacle for the tough running tailback sits on the other side of the locker room and wears the no. 23.

Christian McCaffrey has been drooling over the 49ers’ snaps and carries since returning from a two-month absence. During Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks, for example, Mason came in midway through a long drive in the first quarter. He picked up 8 yards on a first-down carry, then gained another 5 on second down.

He then went to the sidelines and did not appear in attack from that point. McCaffrey played all but four offensive snaps and got all but two of those running back carries. Over the past two weeks, only two NFL tailbacks — Cincinnati Bengals’ Chase Brown (149) and Indianapolis Colts’ Jonathan Taylor (116) — have logged more snaps than McCaffrey (115).

That he quickly regained his role as the 49ers’ leading rusher makes sense. McCaffrey was a scoring machine in the red zone a year ago and is by far their best option out of the backfield. He has as many receptions – 10 – in two games as Mason had all season.

However, the extent to which he has taken over has been surprising.

First, McCaffrey is recovering from bilateral Achilles tendinitis, an issue he had trouble shaking in training camp. He also received a huge workload last season, though both he and coach Kyle Shanahan have said they don’t believe the running back’s 2023 usage was related to the Achilles issue.

“I don’t believe that. I don’t think he believes that,” Shanahan said this month. “I think things happen to a body. I think they happen in the off-season, but I don’t think it has anything to do with numbers (from the season before). When a guy is healthy and good, they’re usually good.”

While the 49ers haven’t eased up on McCaffrey’s game-day usage, they have changed his practice schedule. He was limited to two of the three practices last week; he did not practice at all on Wednesday to give him additional rest.

Second, the 49ers have a more than capable backup in Mason, who helped keep the 49ers afloat during McCaffrey’s absence. Now, not only has he been relegated to the occasional-snap role he was last season, he’s sharing those snaps with rookie Isaac Guerendo, who the 49ers want to develop.

“I want all those guys to play,” Shanahan said. “But it depends on the situation, depends on how many times you get the ball, it depends on the drives, it depends on whether we’re going to put two backs out there. When you do two backs, you’ve got to take either a big off or another recipient. But I don’t always think about how to get Christian away.”

Shanahan and his longtime running backs coach, Bobby Turner, have never liked to spread the carries around, especially when they have an elite runner in their backfield. Denver Broncos tailbacks like Terrell Davis, Olandis Gary and Mike Anderson didn’t share much when Turner was the running backs coach for Mike Shanahan in the late 1990s and early 2000s. When the group was in Washington in 2012, Alfred Morris got 335 carries. Every other tailback on the team combined for 25th.

Asked about that philosophy Wednesday, Shanahan noted the 49ers rotated between Matt Breida, Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman the first four seasons he and Turner were in San Francisco.

“Since Christian has been here, I think that’s the only time we’ve had one guy,” he said. “And I think it’s for obvious reasons.”

Odds and ends

• Brock Purdy (throwing shoulder) was limited in Wednesday’s practice and did not attempt any throws during the 20-minute portion of the opener open to reporters. Purdy went through the same motions as the other three quarterbacks, but didn’t drop the ball.

No throw for Brock Purdy (right shoulder) early in today’s practice – just mental and movement reps. pic.twitter.com/6Lsb5TnaA5

— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) November 20, 2024

Shanahan said Purdy was hurt on a hit Sunday, but wasn’t sure which one. Purdy is running far more frequently this season than he has in the past. He has 51 completions through 10 games compared to 39 all of last season, and is ninth in rushing among quarterbacks with 267 yards.

“You don’t want him to get hit, and we always talk about that,” Shanahan said. “I think he’s done a pretty good job this year of avoiding that. He hasn’t been too reckless. There was one in particular (on Sunday) that I thought he could have gotten down on a little earlier.”

• The 49ers signed edge rusher Jonathan Garvin, who spent training camp with them, to the practice squad, perhaps as protection against Nick Bosa’s hip/oblique injury. Like last week, Bosa did not practice Wednesday in hopes that the issue will settle down during the week to allow him to play in Green Bay on Sunday.

Bosa entered the Seahawks game with a painful oblique injury on one side of his body and came out with it problematic on both sides. He said he was more sore Wednesday than he was at this point last week and wasn’t sure if he could play against the Packers.

“It’s a little early to call it either way,” he said. “We’ll find out in a few days.”

Bosa missed all but two games of the 2020 season after suffering an ACL tear. Since then, he has missed one start – a Week 6 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in 2022.

Offensive tackle Trent Williams (ankle), McCaffrey, defensive tackle Kevin Givens (groin) and linebacker Tatum Bethune (knee) also missed practice. Tight end George Kittle (hamstring), Purdy, cornerback Charvarius Ward (personal) and receiver Jacob Cowing (concussion) were limited.

Kittle said the hamstring injury that kept him out of the Seahawks game was “completely different” than the one that caused him to miss Week 3.

“Which is, I think, a good thing — not re-injuring the same thing multiple times,” he said. “It definitely got better during the week. And then Saturday was a tough day. I felt pretty good on Friday, then on Saturday it didn’t feel good. And on Sunday it wasn’t a good enough place to say, ‘ Okay, let’s go out there and push it.’ I don’t think it would have been my best stuff anyway.”

George Kittle (hamstring) said he will play Sunday at Green Bay. He is officially limited today but looked healthy.

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— @mattbarrows (@mattbarrows.bsky.social) 20 November 2024 at 14.17

• Shanahan said he wasn’t sure if Ward would play against the Packers. He has been out of business since his 1-year-old daughter Amani Joy died last month.

“This will be his first practice in a while, so I don’t really have any expectations (for Sunday),” Shanahan said. “We’re taking it slow and we’ll see how he feels out there today.”

• Offensive lineman Jon Feliciano’s (knee) practice window is set to close on Monday. The 49ers must decide by then whether to add him to the active roster — and take someone off it to make room for Feliciano — or to keep him on injured reserve for the rest of the season.

Feliciano has practiced at both center and guard.

(Top photo: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)