Christian McCaffrey is happy to be back in the Bay Area. He played college football at Stanford, a fact that head coach Kyle Shanahan reminded John Lynch of when the general manager asked how the San Francisco 49ers' new running back could possibly be ready for Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Lynch also played at Stanford.
Whether McCaffrey is on the field or not on Sunday is up to the coaches. The former Carolina Panthers running back is just trying to get acclimated to the area again and to his new team.
Of course, McCaffrey admits to being a bystander regarding the trade to the 49ers. He says he probably learned about the trade just minutes before everyone else.
"I couldn't be more fired up to be here, though," McCaffrey told reporters after Friday's practice. "... I'm proud and happy to be a Forty-Niner."
While McCaffrey didn't have much say in his destination, he has admired the 49ers for a while.
"Well, I've obviously watched them for a long time," McCaffrey said. "In my opinion, the best run game and one of the most explosive offenses in the league. I think you just go down the roster, and you look at all the guys—I think that's the thing I'm most excited about, just getting in the locker room, getting to meet the guys. But how could you not want to play here as an offensive weapon?
"I'm extremely fired up. Obviously, I have a little bit of a history with Coach Shanahan, and just can't express how happy I am to be here."
McCaffrey notes that he still has two days before kickoff, so don't count him out against the Chiefs just yet.
"You can process a lot in two days, and figure out a lot in a short amount of time, and hopefully be ready to go," McCaffrey said before repeating that the decision is ultimately up to Shanahan and the coaches. "... It's just my job to learn as much as humanly possible in the next two days and get ready to play a football game."
McCaffrey added, "I'm trying to get the playbook down. That's the only thing I'm focused on. Going to help this team win a lot of football games, hopefully. That's where my mind is."