San Francisco 49ers insider Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area revealed an important detail during the latest 49ers Talk podcast (h/t Grant Cohn of Sports Illustrated). Running back Christian McCaffrey isn't just dealing with Achilles tendinitis in one leg—he has it in both.
"He has the bilateral Achilles tendinitis, which means Achilles tendinitis in both legs," Maiocco stated.
Update: General manager John Lynch mentioned this during a radio interview last week, but it was Maiocco who took the time to clarify the meaning.
McCaffrey recently traveled to Germany to receive treatment for his injury. While head coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed the running back underwent treatment, he opted not to divulge specifics.
The 49ers are hopeful McCaffrey's rehab can intensify this week.
"Yeah, we'd like to start hitting his rehab here harder on Monday," Shanahan recently said.
The team can open McCaffrey's practice window before their Week 6 game against the Seattle Seahawks and activate him from injured reserve anytime after that happens. However, there remains uncertainty about when McCaffrey will return to the field.
"Here's the truth of the matter: I don't think Christian McCaffrey knows when he's coming back," ESPN insider Adam Schefter said Monday morning on the Pat McAfee Show. "I don't think the 49ers know when he's coming back. I don't think anybody knows right now when he's coming back.
"Now, they have talked and said that they're going to begin to ramp up Christian McCaffrey, potentially even this week, starting to get him back to see how he's feeling. And ideally, you'd like to hope and think that he's going to be feeling better, that the time off will have helped."