San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan provided an encouraging update on Christian McCaffrey during an appearance on Bay Area radio station KNBR on Friday. The star running back has been limited in practice for two consecutive days as he recovers from calf and Achilles issues.
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These are the same issues that sidelined McCaffrey for most of training camp and the entire preseason. The addition of the "Achilles" this week is simply due to the NFL's requirement for more detailed injury reports now that the regular season has begun.
Shanahan expressed confidence that McCaffrey is on track to play on Monday night when the 49ers host the New York Jets. However, he emphasized that the next few days will be crucial for assessing how much the running back can contribute in the game.
Can fans expect to see typical McCaffrey against the Jets?
"We'll see," Shanahan responded. "Anytime someone's been out for a while, you always got to be careful with him, and we're evaluating each practice. He was still limited today, so he didn't get to do quite as much, but he is getting there.
"And Christian's been through this stuff before, and I know he'll be out there on Monday, and we'll see how that game goes."
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After Friday's practice, McCaffrey addressed reporters in the locker room, noting that the "Achilles" portion of the injury designation isn't a concern and that he feels great.
When asked about his goals for the upcoming season, McCaffrey said, "I think it's just taking it one play at a time. I don't like to look at what's ahead. Each play has a life of its own, and just do what you have to do on each play, take care of the things that you can control, and then go from there and see what happens."
Shanahan wasn't the only one optimistic about McCaffrey's Week 1 availability. Earlier on Friday, general manager John Lynch shared a similarly positive outlook during another radio interview.
"Christian's doing great," Lynch said. "We've got to finish the week here, but he looks like Christian, and that's a good thing for us. He's looked like Christian out here at practice. We had a bonus [practice] here on Tuesday ... and he was there. He was out there yesterday. So Christian's looking really good.
"Obviously, we want to see him progress through the week, but we had confidence that Christian would be ready, and he's doing very well. He takes tremendous care of his body and takes so much pride in that, and he'll be out there and ready to roll."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.