Christian McCaffrey expects big things from his first full season with the San Francisco 49ers. The star running back joined the team via a mid-season trade last year and thrived in head coach Kyle Shanahan's offense. McCaffrey finished the season with 1,880 all-purpose yards and 13 total touchdowns, most of which came after joining the 49ers. He expects to have even more success in 2023.
"I think it's just building off of getting a full offseason, of really understanding not just the plays, but understanding why they're calling it, working together with everybody," McCaffrey told NFL Network's Omar Ruiz after Sunday's practice. "It's such a fun team to play for because of that. You've got great minds coaching it, calling plays, and you've got great players who do so much more than just [what they do] with the ball in their hand.
"So, for me, it's just about capitalizing on all the plays. And, like you said, it was a great experience being able to learn from scratch in the offseason instead of having to jump in Week 6. So I'm excited."
Every NFL team enters training camp with the same goal—winning a championship. However, McCaffrey and the 49ers, one of a handful of teams most consider talented enough to potentially do it, aren't focused on next February.
"Obviously, this team is hungry, wants to do that, and I think, right now, it's just about taking it one day at a time, being as polished as we can in practice, minimizing mistakes, building off of each day, getting better and going out and doing everything we can to win every game," McCaffrey shared. "... I think for us, the special thing about this team is we're not looking to the Super Bowl, we're not looking to even Week 1 yet. We're focused on today. We're focused on right now."
The 49ers went through their entire quarterback depth chart last season and still made it to the NFC Championship Game. That is a testament to the talented roster that head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch have built over the years. That depth isn't just at the quarterback position. The team seems stacked almost across the board.
"I think everybody has the idea to focus on your job, and that's it," McCaffrey said. "And for every single position, we know that if you take care of your street, then the guy next to you will take care of his. And that's really what the mentality is in this offense, with this system, and with the talent that we have.
"The next man up is not always a bad thing. You got talent all over the place. Not just at the starting positions but at the backup. So we have depth, we've got the guys who can do it, and we've got the coaches who can get everybody ready to roll and put guys in positions to win."
McCaffrey and the 49ers are four practices into training camp, so there is much work to do before they even suit up for their first preseason game. On Monday, they will hold their first padded practice of the offseason.
