49ers running back Christian McCaffrey said he doesn't want a lighter workload this season after leading the NFL with 413 total touches last season.
49ers running back Christian McCaffrey said he doesn't want a lighter workload this season after leading the NFL with 413 total touches last season.
Nick WagonerMay 28, 2026, 08:01 PM ETCloseNick Wagoner is an NFL reporter at ESPN. Nick has covered the San Francisco 49ers since 2016, having previously covered the St. Louis Rams for 12 years, including three years (2013 to 2015) at ESPN. In over a decade with the company, Nick has led ESPN's coverage of the Niners' 2019 and 2023 Super Bowl run, Colin Kaepernick's protest, the Rams making Michael Sam the first openly gay player drafted to the NFL, Sam's subsequent pursuit of a roster spot and the team's relocation and stadium saga.
Nick WagonerMay 28, 2026, 08:01 PM ET
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Since becoming one of the league's most productive and busiest running backs upon his arrival in 2017, the San Francisco 49ers' Christian McCaffrey has grown accustomed to questions about his workload.
This offseason has been no different, especially with McCaffrey coming off a year in which he had a league-leading and career-high 413 touches, will turn 30 on June 7 and in which coach Kyle Shanahan has been more emphatic than ever about helping McCaffrey find additional breathers.
None of that has changed McCaffrey's perspective, however. He made that clear when speaking after the Niners' organized team activity on Thursday.
"I've been dealing with those questions for nine years," McCaffrey said. "I think the workload in our sport is really monitored in practice, not in games. We play 17 regular season games a year and everybody's livelihoods are on the line. I would say on Sunday you've got to do whatever it takes to win and that's not a coach's job. You don't tell the three-point shooter you only get six threes today.
"So much of it is rhythmic and it's my job to put my body in the best position I can to go out there and play and I think everything else can be monitored during the week or with a practice schedule or certain ways you train, whatever it may be. But when it comes to game days, I like to think you prepare yourself for playing every snap."
That's been McCaffrey's standard response when asked about his workload in past years, even the ones in which he's been the focal point of his team's offense and posted some of his best seasons. Last year, McCaffrey finished second in the NFL in scrimmage yards (2,126) and third in scrimmage touchdowns (17) while falling 76 receiving yards short of a second career season with at least 1,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving yards.
For those efforts, McCaffrey was named the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year and finished second in Offensive Player of the Year voting. All of which was especially commendable given that McCaffrey was coming off a nightmare 2024 in which bilateral Achilles tendinitis cost him the first eight games and a posterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee prevented him from playing in the final five contests.
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