McCaffrey’s 49ers usage still ‘hard’ for Shanahan to balance

Two weeks after Christian McCaffrey was on the field for every single 49ers offensive snap, coach Kyle Shanahan still is working on finding the right balance for his star running back. McCaffrey had an outstanding performance in the 49ers' 35-16 win over the Arizona Cardinals, racking up four touchdowns with 106 yards on the ground and 71 receiving yards. With McCaffrey's offensive production through the roof, Shanahan is having a difficult time pulling the All-Pro off the field during games. "It's always hard," Shanahan said via conference call on Monday. "We did it for a couple drives, but we still put him in on third down. It was only 55 plays in the game which was smaller, and yes, we would love him to have a little more rest but he is extremely tough to take out." McCaffrey was on the field against the Cardinals for 47 offensive plays, or 85 percent, while J.P. Mason was in the game for 8 plays, or 15 percent. With Elijah Mitchell inactive due to a knee injury and Deebo Samuel dealing with knee and rib soreness, more of the offensive workload fell on McCaffrey's shoulders. In the 49ers' Week 3 win over the New York Giants, the offense was on the field for a whopping 83 plays....