The San Francisco 49ers are hoping to see star running back Christian McCaffrey on the practice field next week.
McCaffrey is on injured reserve and has missed the first eight games with Achilles issues in both legs. But 49ers general manager John Lynch told KNBR on Wednesday that the club plans to open McCaffrey’s 21-day practice window on Monday.
That would make it possible for McCaffrey, last season’s NFL Offensive Player of the Year, to return against the host Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Nov. 10. San Francisco has a bye this weekend.
“The ideal scenario versus Tampa Bay is that he continues to — we keep using this terminology — but ramp up, which just means increase the volume of work that he’s doing,” Lynch said. “He’s been doing that, and he hasn’t had any setbacks. The hope is we take it up another notch this week. Provided that goes well, we’re kind of opening that window, allowing him to go back to practice. IR players can work to the side. They can’t get involved in practice. And so, Christian has been kind of on that plan.
“And now, hopefully, you increase the volume this week. You hope you have no setbacks. I’d expect it to kind of go that way. I pray that it goes that way because he’s done really well. He hasn’t had any of those (setbacks). And if so, then Monday, we hope to have him practicing with our team, and that’d be a really good deal for us. We all know he’s the reigning offensive player of the year. He’s a special game-changing player for us.”
McCaffrey rushed for a league-high 1,459 yards along with 14 touchdowns and had 67 receptions for 564 yards and seven scores in 2023.
Jordan Mason has done a solid job in place of McCaffrey with 685 yards and three touchdowns. However, Mason injured a shoulder during Sunday night’s 30-24 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.
Rookie Isaac Guerendo stepped up Sunday with 85 yards and one score on 14 carries. Overall, he has 227 yards and one touchdown.
San Francisco is just 4-4 as it enjoys its bye week.
