There’s been a lot of conversation this week about Christian McCaffrey’s workload, but it sounds like he doesn’t expect to play 100 percent of the offensive snaps going forward.
McCaffrey played in all 57 of the 49ers offensive plays in Sunday’s 30-23 win over the Rams, as he carried the ball 20 times for 116 yards (including a 51-romp) and a touchdown, while adding three catches for 19 yards.
While backup running back Elijah Mitchell didn’t see the field, something coach Kyle Shanahan took account for, McCaffrey thinks the game dictated the lopsided split in playing time. McCaffrey addressed the questions about running back reps while speaking with reporters on Tuesday in Santa Clara.
“I think it’s all dependent on how the game’s going,” McCaffrey said. “We had a lot of breaks last game. Sometimes that's just how it goes. There’s gonna be games where Mitchell will get 4 or 5 carries in a row on multiple drives because he’s playing well and he’s feeling it and I’ll be out. It’s really such a situational thing, I don’t think it’s ever a plan for us to get all the carries or not. Sometimes that’s just how the games go.”
As Josh Dubow of the Associated Press noted, being an iron man is nothing new for McCaffrey. CMC has played 100 percent of the offensive snaps for his team 15 times in his career, compared to just 10 other instances by running backs around the league in the same span.
Through two games, McCaffrey leads the NFL with his 288 rushing yards and 6.4 yards per carry. McCaffrey hasn’t missed a game since the start of the 2022 season, but the 49ers want to keep him fresh for the playoffs given their Super Bowl aspirations. Mitchell is a fine No. 2 running back if healthy and provides a solid contributor in the backfield while CMC rests, so we should be expecting the third-year back to play a bigger role as the season wears on.