McCaffrey: Teammates gave him ovation, love for his bowl boycott

For Christian McCaffrey, the only thing harder than skipping the Sun Bowl was having to inform his teammates.

He stood before them to say he wouldn’t be suiting up for his final game at Stanford to avoid risking injury on the cusp of his NFL career. Then, he braced for the blowback.

Instead, he got goosebumps. They gave him a “little ovation” and a “lot of love,” McCaffrey recounted Thursday.

“And that was one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever had to make. I was just real lucky to have a bunch of guys that had my back.”

Outside the locker room, McCaffrey has drawn plenty of praise and criticism alike for his decision, which he didn’t address publicly until meeting with the media at the NFL scouting combine.

Teams are also peppering him with questions about bypassing the bowl game, he said.

“I just tell them how it is when they ask,” McCaffrey said. “I’m extremely honest with them and then we move on to now and playing football.”

What he tells them, he said, is “it was a career decision ... to try to protect my dream of playing and succeeding in the NFL.”

Running back Leonard Fournette missed LSU’s Citrus Bowl matchup with Louisville to rest an injured ankle, a decision he announced three days after McCaffrey, the 2015 Heisman Trophy runner-up, said he’d sit out the Sun Bowl after dealing with a bruised hip in 2016.

“As a Stanford fan, I wasn’t a huge fan of that. But they did all right without him, too,” new 49ers general manager John Lynch said, adding that while he understands the bowl boycotts, “I know people here that that really bothers.”

Lynch has known McCaffrey, whose father, Ed, had a long NFL career as a wide receiver, for many years. “So, I would never question his commitment to team and all that,” Lynch said. “But other people will. So, it’s something that these kids have to weigh. I think it will affect football going forward for many years to come.”