McCaffrey ‘is what greatness looks like’

Running back still playing like he has everything to prove

He’s an All-Pro who refuses to ever exhale, a record breaker who still scraps like Rudy and a do-it-all running back who studies, practices and plays like he has done nothing.

Plenty of accomplished athletes have elite intangibles. They always have something to prove. But San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey is different: He always has everything to prove.

“That mentality is extremely rare,” said Lance Taylor, McCaffrey’s position coach for each of his three seasons at Stanford. “And it’s almost counterintuitive to human nature with the way that we’re wired. But that’s the way Christian is wired.”

Yes, the NFL’s highest-paid running back is unlike you, me and everyone else who allow success to dull their drive, even imperceptibly. McCaffrey is even unlike fellow Type A’s such as pass rusher Nick Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner, his All-Pro teammates whose maniacal work ethics have fueled their Hall of Fame trajectories.

“I definitely haven’t been around anyone who’s like him,” said head coach Kyle Shanahan, in his 20th season in the NFL. “Most of the great ones are very obsessive (and) compulsive about their craft. I think Nick’s very similar to that and Fred Warner. But Christian just is a little bit different.”

McCaffrey enters Sunday’s game against the Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium leading the NFL in rushing yards (1,032) and total touchdowns (17), the latter figure putting him on pace to break Jerry Rice’s franchise record of 23 set in 1987. McCaffrey already has set the team record with his 12 rushing scores and, with 1,461 yards from scrimmage, he could threaten Frank Gore’s franchise mark (2,180), which was established in 2006.

It’s the type of production the 49ers dreamed of when they acquired McCaffrey from the Panthers for four draft picks last season. But Shanahan has admitted he didn’t know McCaffrey’s always-the-underdog mindset made him a coach’s dream. Shanahan has de