The San Francisco 49ers‘ offense didn’t skip a beat in the Monday Night Football opener against the New York Jets with All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey sidelined, but Brock Purdy and Co. may need to weather a lengthier absence for McCaffrey than they expected.
Ahead of the 49ers’ Week 2 contest against the Minnesota Vikings, McCaffrey was officially listed as doubtful on the injury report as he continues to recover from an Achilles tendon and calf injury.
Following Monday night’s 32-19 blowout win over the New York Jets, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan revealed that if it had been a playoff game, McCaffrey likely would have been on the field.
“Definitely, I believe if it was a playoff game, he would’ve played,” Shanahan said, via the team’s official transcript. “But it’s not just the calf, it’s the Achilles and the Achilles is tendonitis and that stuff comes and goes. When it is acting up, it’s something you’ve got to be very careful about. Christian’s very diligent about that stuff. And if it was a playoff game, he made it very clear to me, he believed he could go. But when you hear that type of stuff and it’s not a playoff game and it’s Week 1, and especially when you’re dealing with the lower extremities like that it, it was a tough decision. But hearing all the words and stuff, in the long run it made it easy.”