San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch, head coach Kyle Shanahan, and newly-acquired running back Christian McCaffrey spoke with the media on Friday following the blockbuster trade that was finalized late Thursday evening.
The move for McCaffrey made sense, given that the 49ers' running game had been declining this season in terms of efficiency, especially after the injuries to Elijah Mitchell and Trey Lance.
While Christian McCaffrey was a huge addition to the 49ers, head coach Kyle Shanahan doesn't think that the 49ers were just one player away.
"I think we've got enough players in our building and enough talent that we've got a chance [to win a Super Bowl], like I think a number of teams in this league do. I think when you have a chance and things come up, you'd always love to help that chance go up and when you've got a player like Christian, who I believe is a very good player, I think it gives us a much better chance to add him to a group of good players. It helps you overcome maybe some bad things that could happen as you go along that stretch, but I never really look at it as one player away."
Following the trade, Shanahan believes the 49ers still have work to do to reach their Super Bowl aspirations, as the move only shored up one of their issues.
"I think we're a team that has a chance to be real good, but we're not there yet. I think not just our record showing that, but we've got to play a lot better ball and bringing Christian here is definitely not the only thing we're missing. We've got play to our complete ability, which we're not there yet in all three phases."
Shanahan compared the move to when the 49ers traded for wideout Emmanuel Sanders in 2019 when the team was 6-0, believing that San Francisco was in a better spot to contend at that point.
"I think when we made this trade it's similarly, last time [in 2019], we were 6-0, I felt better about where we were at."
However, the head coach doesn't believe it's a talent issue, while acknowledging that a player of McCaffrey's caliber does improve San Francisco's chances of reaching that end goal.
"We still had to get better, but I still think we have that type of team, that's got the talent and stuff like that, but we've got to improve as we go and if we do that and on top of if you add a better player, yeah it makes things, it gives you a much better chance. But I don't think this is something we would look into if we just thought it was just this year. I think Christian, with his contract and stuff, is going to be around here for a little bit and it's not just a one-year rental."
The 49ers will look to begin that improvement when they host the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, where McCaffrey could potentially suit up if the coaching staff deems him ready enough in certain packages.
