Christian McCaffrey‘s lingering calf and Achilles ailments have become the talk of the town, almost as if the 49ers didn’t dominate in their season-opening win earned without him.
On Wednesday, McCaffrey offered additional explanation for why he sat out of San Francisco’s 32-19 triumph as a surprise inactive.
“My mindset every week is I’m going to play,” McCaffrey said, via ESPN. “There’s been weeks where I’ll go the full week, not even feeling good enough to do the walk-through, and then I wake up and the body’s capable of a lot of cool things. Mentally, I’m always prepared to play, and then I woke up and it was a group decision, a very tough one. I hate not playing but I look at it as a chess move and something that hopefully you can benefit from the rest of the season.”
The 49ers didn’t miss McCaffrey much, thanks in large part to the performance of Jordan Mason, who finished with 147 yards and a rushing touchdown on 28 carries. But one excellent outing won’t make 49ers fans forget about McCaffrey’s absence, and he certainly isn’t content with sitting out for long.
Taking an extra week or two off might be the best move in the long run for a player of McCaffrey’s caliber. After all, the 49ers aren’t basing their season on results in Weeks 1-4. After losing the Super Bowl in overtime last season, they have but one goal: Return to the Super Bowl and bring home the Lombardi Trophy.
They’ll need all hands on deck to accomplish such a lofty goal, with McCaffrey landing atop the list. Still, telling a player like McCaffrey to take it easy isn’t a simple task, even if he takes the week of practice off in order to improve his chances of playing on Sunday.
“I think when you don’t feel right in practice there’s a difference between you don’t feel right, but maybe by Sunday you’ll be good to go when you’re working through some stuff and something’s off,” McCaffrey said on Wednesday. “My mindset is I’m going to play no matter what I’m going through physically on Wednesday or Thursday practice, and then the game day you’ve got to make a decision.”
The decision San Francisco made in Week 1 was the right one, and a similar call could be justified in Week 2, too. As 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said Tuesday, the 49ers must “be very careful” with McCaffrey, even if the running back is “very diligent” when it comes to monitoring his health.
Sometimes, the best influence is the one that keeps the raging bull in the pen, even if only for one game. We’ll see if that pitch is enough to convince McCaffrey to take it easy, or if his health improves drastically enough to see him return to action quickly.
“My mentality is I’m playing this week,” McCaffrey said. “That’s where I’m at. That’s how I am every week. I’m not lying. I think as soon as a player says, ‘maybe I’ll play, maybe I won’t,’ that’s not a good mentality to go into a week with when you’re kind of on the fence. For me, I’m ready to go.”
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