Christian McCaffrey's status remains the top storyline for the San Francisco 49ers this week. The star running back was limited in practice for the second consecutive day. He missed Monday night's game against the New York Jets due to a calf strain and Achilles tendinitis but hopes to return for this weekend's matchup against the Minnesota Vikings.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with Bay Area radio station KNBR after Thursday's practice and was asked to provide an update on McCaffrey's recovery.
"Same as yesterday, he had another limited day, so he got to do some of [practice]," Shanahan responded. "Nothing really new to add, though."
When asked if the artificial turf at U.S. Bank Stadium, home of the Vikings, could influence the decision to play McCaffrey, Shanahan acknowledged that everything is considered.
"You take everything into account," Shanahan said. "You start with the doctors and everything, and you get MRIs. You get all that stuff possible, so you know exactly what's going on. Then you talk with everyone, with a plan to build him back up.
"And we have GPS, we have rep counts, we know their strength and their max speeds, and all the stuff that they're supposed to hit to show that they're fully back to something, so they don't think they're all right, and then they go full speed for the first time during a play and then re-injure it. So you have all that stuff to go through it.
"We take all of it into account, but a lot of it, you depend on the player, too. If you get something that you can see in an MRI or something, where you know that he's hurt, then it makes it real simple. You usually know how long that takes. But when it's something that doesn't show up as strong in that way, you've got to have a lot of feedback from the guy."
McCaffrey recently stated that he approaches every game week with the mindset that he will play. While that determination is admirable, it adds complexity to assessing whether he's truly ready to return.
"Christian's a guy who believes he's always going to be able to overcome whatever it is, which is something that you respect about him," Shanahan continued. "He does do that more than other people, but it's something that you got to really communicate with [him] every single day."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.