The San Francisco 49ers opened running back Christian McCaffrey's practice window on Monday, raising the possibility he could suit up for Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. McCaffrey has been on injured reserve (IR) since September 14 due to bilateral Achilles tendinitis, but he may be activated ahead of the Week 10 matchup at Raymond James Stadium.
RELATED 49ers open Christian McCaffrey's practice window, eye potential return
General manager John Lynch expressed optimism that McCaffrey's recovery is progressing well, hinting he could make his 2024 season debut this weekend.
"I sure hope so," Lynch said when asked by Tim Kawakami on The TK Show if McCaffrey might be active on Sunday. "Christian's passed every part of the test in our plan. Over the bye week, he stayed here with our trainers. How do you come to work on the bye week? You come when you've got guys like him working out and you want to see it. I sat up in my office and watched from afar. He looks great. He's responded well."
McCaffrey's progress through four practices this week will be critical in determining his readiness to return after missing significant time.
"I will say that him doing IR work off to the side with our strength coaches and trainers is different than actually getting on the field," Lynch explained. "There's that reactive element to it. And so, now we've got to put him through that test, responding to a safety coming up and taking one side of leverage away, and he's got to make a cut, those types of things.
"And can he respond in a good way? Can he feel healthy enough? Can he feel like he can go make an impact and handle the volume that we've put on him? If so, we won't hesitate to play him. I think we've been real thoughtful. I'm proud of our health and performance team, proud of Christian, the way they've attacked this rehab. It's been a long time.
"It's been tough, when you have a player of that caliber, to not have him. I think it's provided opportunities for other players to show what they can do. But there's no doubt about it, you miss a Christian McCaffrey—your entire team, not just your offense—when he's not on the field."
You can listen to Lynch's entire interview below.