Add The California Post on Google SANTA CLARA – With fights popping off all around him Tuesday during the 49ers’ joint practice with the Titans, Christian McCaffrey stood off to the side, his nose buried in the offensive play sheet, watching it all unfold.
For the second straight day, one of the best running backs in football, and the indisputable, irreplaceable engine of San Francisco’s offense, was held out of the action because of what the club is describing as “tightness.”
No one has officially identified which McCaffrey limb, muscle, tendon or body part is barking. But if we’re keeping it a buck, it’s hard not to wonder whether the tightness is related to his calf.
And if that sends a shiver down the spine of 49ers fans, there’s a pretty good reason for it.
Two years ago, the calf tightness McCaffrey dealt with during training camp didn’t just carry over into the regular season.
What was initially described as a minor issue the 49ers and McCaffrey were managing out of precaution eventually became something far more serious. The calf tightness developed into Achilles trouble and sidelined McCaffrey for the first eight games of the season.
Upon returning in Week 9, he lasted just four games before suffering a PCL sprain.
One year after playing in the Super Bowl, they slumped to 6-11. And if you think not having McCaffrey on the field didn’t play a significant role in that demise, you’re fooling yourself.
McCaffrey wasn’t merely part of the 49ers’ Super Bowl run the season before. He was the driving force behind it.
His 1,459 rushing yards led the NFL. He added 67 catches for 564 yards. If you’re doing the math at home, that added up to a league-leading 2,023 yard from scrimmage, the NFL Offensive Player of the Year award, the 49ers scoring the third-most points in the league, and a wide-open road to the NFC Championship.
Without him the following year, the 49ers looked extraordinarily ordinary.
Which is why McCaffrey standing off to the side for a second straight day is worth paying attention to.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan played it off Tuesday as no big thing, indicating McCaffrey’s absence is more about protecting him from himself than protecting him from a significant injury.
“My concern would be him toughing through tightness, like a lot of people do, and then hurting something bad, and then pulling something, which then, it could be a month,” Shanahan said.
That makes perfect sense. There is absolutely no reason to push McCaffrey in August and risk turning something minor into something that jeopardizes September.
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“Christian’s a guy who needs to get prepared for Week 1,” Shanahan said. “But also, we’re pretty confident in what he’s done before. We’re confident in what he’s done these two weeks, and we just want to make sure we don’t make it something to be concerned about.”
Because the 49ers have been down this road with McCaffrey before. They’ve heard the reassuring words. They’ve exercised caution. They’ve believed everything would ultimately be fine.
That doesn’t mean history is repeating itself. McCaffrey could be back on the field in a day or two, and this entire episode could be forgotten by Week 1.
But after what happened two years ago, nobody should blame the 49ers for treating every hint of tightness with extreme caution.
And nobody should blame their fans for holding their breath until McCaffrey is back on the field.
McCaffrey isn’t the only 49ers star setting off alarm bells right now.
The knee injury that cut Nick Bosa’s season down to just three games last year continues to rear its ugly head. The Pro Bowl edge rusher sat out his fifth straight practice Tuesday.
Much like with McCaffrey, Shanahan downplayed Bosa’s situation.
“Just soreness, tendinitis,” Shanahan said. “It’s a pretty normal thing with ACLs. And that’s why we’ve got to be smart here for week to week. But I’m feeling no concerns about him being any more than that.”
Then again, reassuring injury updates haven’t exactly aged well around here lately.
Mykell Williams, drafted in the first round last year to play Robin to Bosa’s Batman off the edge, started training camp on the PUP list while recovering from the knee injury he suffered last November.
Tight end George Kittle is also on the PUP list while rehabilitating the Achilles injury he sustained in January.
That is on top of the knee injury to wide receiver Ricky Pearsall that has already wiped out his 2026 season.
In all, the 49ers are managing injuries and significant aches and pains to 20 different players.
And that’s where cautious concern starts creeping toward something a little more uncomfortable.
The 49ers entered this season hopeful they had finally paid their injury debt after getting absolutely pummeled by bad health last year. Yet here they are, on the eve of their first preseason game, and the injury report is already starting to look uncomfortably familiar.
Maybe it’s all just August noise. Maybe Shanahan is doing exactly what a smart coach should do with veteran stars whose bodies have accumulated plenty of NFL mileage: wrap them in bubble wrap, keep them out of harm’s way and get them to Week 1 intact.
There is a very good chance that’s exactly what this is.
But there’s also a reason nobody around the 49ers should casually shrug at the sight of McCaffrey watching practice rather than participating in it.
And the last time “tightness” showed up in the opening scene, the ending was a disaster.
Because for all the injuries the 49ers are already managing, McCaffrey is the one player whose absence changes the entire complexion of their season.
For now, Shanahan and the 49ers are treating his situation like it’s no big thing.
