49ers go for it with McCaffrey
GM Lynch adds RB to team he views as Super Bowl-caliber
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Despite a string of injuries, lackluster performances and a 3-3 start to the season, general manager John Lynch still views his 49ers as Super Bowl contenders.
That belief gave Lynch the confidence to take a gamble. He traded four draft picks to the Panthers for star running back Christian McCaffrey in hopes of providing a similar spark to the last time he made a big in-season trade.
“You only do this when you have belief in your team as it’s constructed,” Lynch said Friday. “The previous time we made a big splash like this was Emmanuel Sanders back in ’19 because we felt like we had the team capable of competing for the whole deal . . . . We understand we have a lot of work to do. We understand this isn’t a magic pill. It’s not going to fix all our ills as a team, one player. We all have to get better.”
The 49ers traded their picks in the second, third and fourth rounds of the 2023 draft as well as a fifth-rounder in 2024 to Carolina.
They paid a heavy price to get McCaffrey but also kept him away from the division rival Rams, who were the other team in the mix.
“It’s definitely a bonus,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “Everybody would love the opportunity to have a player like Christian. I think everyone looks into it, but it’s also nice to keep a good player away from the team we have to compete with year in and year out.”
McCaffrey joins a talented group of playmakers in San Francisco with versatile wide receiver Deebo Samuel, star tight end George Kittle and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
But the Niners were not as strong at running back with starter Elijah Mitchell out with a knee injury and were ranked 20th in the league in scoring at 20.3 points per game.
McCaffrey could get his first shot with the 49ers when they host the Chiefs. He passed his physical in time to get on the field for the end of practice Friday and will have a crash course in the new offense in hopes that he can play a limited role Sunday against Kansas City.
“I’ll leave that up to [the coaches], but it’s just my job to learn as much as humanly possible in the next two days and get ready to play a game,” McCaffrey said.
McCaffrey, 26, provides Shanahan with one of the best as a runner and receiver, adding another element to San Francisco’s offense.
The Niners were tied for the sixth-fewest passes to running backs with only 4.0 targets per game but now can feature an offense that has one of the most accomplished receiving backs in McCaffrey and a receiver who is a dynamic runner in Samuel.
“I don’t know if there’s anyone better at putting guys in positions to have success, in tailoring to what they’re good at,” McCaffrey said. “I’ve watched [Shanahan] do some unbelievable things with some great running backs and even the running backs in the room right now . ... You just hear legends about how good an offensive mind he is. So to be here is exciting.”
The main knock on McCaffrey has been his durability of late. He missed 23 games the previous two seasons because of injuries but has played in all six this year.
The 49ers were confident enough in McCaffrey’s health to make the deal.
“You can never have complete certainty on that,” Lynch said. “That’s beyond our control. But you try to make the best decision you can. He has played a lot of football this year, and he’s played really good football. He’s done that throughout his career.”
McCaffrey is fourth in the NFL in yards from scrimmage (607) despite playing for the league’s 32ndranked offense. He and Browns running back Nick Chubb are the only players to have five games this year with at least 100 yards from scrimmage.