Following his trade to the San Francisco 49ers in the previous season, Christian McCaffrey has accomplished amazing feats. The 49ers are in the lead for home-field advantage in the playoffs thanks in large part to their star running back, who leads the NFL in both rushing yards (1,177) and all-purpose yards (1,614). He will also play a major role in the team’s success should they win Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas.
On Thursday, head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with KNBR, a Bay Area radio station, on the similarities between McCaffrey and another renowned athlete from the area, Golden State Warriors player Stephen Curry. It was said that McCaffrey lifts everyone around him on the football field, giving his teammates opportunities, much like Curry does on the basketball court.
The coach was asked if he agreed with the comparison.
“First of all, not even talking Christian, when you have a threatening run game, just the run game does that to a defense,” Shanahan replied. “Defenses have a problem when a team has a strong running group and is willing to run the ball, regardless of the offense’s strategy or the skill of their quarterback or receivers. That’s what makes everything else better; they have to respect that.
“And then you have a strong rushing team with an outstanding running back like Christian. Thus, that’s only twice as serious of an issue as it may be in a typical circumstance. Furthermore, you discuss what Christian could do to any player that covers him—usually linebackers and safeties—on top of everything else. Put some corners in there to play safety and linebacker so they’ll be in places where they can have a better chance of covering him if he wasn’t such a threat in the run game and we weren’t running him so much.”
On Sunday, McCaffrey amassed a league-high 145 rushing yards against the Seahawks, including an astounding 72-yard run to start the game. Shanahan stressed that the 49ers’ other offensive weapons have more opportunities when opponents concentrate on stopping McCaffrey and the team’s running attack.
“So that kind of all ties together and stuff,” Shanahan went on. “And that’s kind of like [WR] Deebo [Samuel] is too, because you got a guy that can go the distance if you give him a chance or put a screen in his direction. You must therefore exercise extreme caution to avoid giving him too much room, as any one of those individuals has the right to hold you accountable.
“So that kind of all ties together and stuff,” Shanahan went on. “And that’s kind of like [WR] Deebo [Samuel] is too, because you got a guy that can go the distance if you give him a chance or put a screen in his direction. You must therefore exercise extreme caution to avoid giving him too much room, as any one of those individuals has the right to hold you accountable.
“You wouldn’t just throw Steph Curry five feet over there if he were to spend the entire day sitting in a corner. He will hit that three every time, so you better have someone closed out on him.”
Remarkably adaptable players like McCaffrey and Samuel are invaluable, as Shanahan noted when he said, “But when you can put that receiver in a running back position, or the running back out to a receiver position, then it kind of just multiplies.”
