To say that Christian McCaffrey was a significant addition last season would be an understatement. The San Francisco 49ers were a .500 team before his arrival and were undefeated in regular-season games where the running back started.
Things got simpler for the 49ers with McCaffrey in the backfield, especially for Kyle Shanahan. During the Dwight Clark Legacy Series event on Wednesday night, the head coach explained what adding McCaffrey meant for him and his offense.
"It makes it easier. It calms your mind a little bit," Shanahan said. "You don't have to make as much stuff up. Everyone wants to be like, 'Oh, you got him now. How creative are you going to be?' It's like, 'You don't have to be as creative.' He can beat that guy. We don't have to help him.
"The defense has got to help the guy guarding him. That's where it gets cool. And that's what I love so much about Christian ... Christian is so different. We have a lot of real talented players on our team, especially our five eligibles. Christian is just so consistent.
"And when you match up his talent, with his preparation, with his mind, with the position he plays and who guards him, I don't care what the leverage is that linebacker is going to play, Christian is going to beat him, and it's consistently."
McCaffrey showed off his versatility in his first start with the 49ers, becoming the first NFL player to run for a touchdown, catch a touchdown, and throw for a touchdown in the same game since LaDainian Tomlinson in 2005. He was a big part of that 31-14 Week 8 win over the Los Angeles Rams.
Defenses must account for the running back because they know he can be a threat no matter how the 49ers get the football into his hands.
"And when you have someone who can do that consistently, and the defense respects that, they're not going to allow that linebacker to play leverage in a certain way without help on the other leverage," Shanahan continued. "And so when you have a guy like that, whether he breaks in or out, it takes two, which now means [TE George] Kittle versus a strong safety. When that safety plays outside leverage, and a guy breaks in, there's no one there to help anymore.
"When a guy plays outside leverage on [WR] Deebo [Samuel], and Deebo just runs in, where if we get the ball in Deebo's hand, he's got a chance to be gone. Well, usually, the linebacker can help there [against] anyone who breaks in, and then we got to go to someone else late. Well, now they're just going to Christian because if they don't, he's that consistent."
Shanahan compared the situation to NBA teams defending against Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. Opponents respect the star basketball player's ability to hit on three-point shots. Being aware of that and constantly accounting for it means opportunities for others.
"And it just spaces everything out," Shanahan explained. "And to me, Christian, out of any of those players, because of the position he plays and because of everything else stacked with it, he really makes it easier, in my opinion, to get the ball to Kittle, to get it to Deebo, to get it to [WR Brandon] Aiyuk, to get it to [WR] Jauan [Jennings]."
"And as a play caller, I'm not as stressed because you just let it happen. And I don't care what they do; you guys pick your poison. Go ahead, double him. Those other dudes are pretty good."
