There’s been some discourse over whether San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey is truly injured or if he’s doing a subtle holdout for a new contract. ESPN’s Adam Schefter cleared the air in that regard today.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show, Schefter made it clear that McCaffrey’s absence is due to “muscle tightness” and that there isn’t any new deal on the horizon for the All-Pro back. He stated that, “barring some setback,” McCaffrey will be on the field for the 49ers in Week 1 when they take on the rival Los Angeles Rams in Australia.
“This isn’t contract related at all and there isn’t a new deal coming for Christian McCaffrey,” Schefter said. “His absence is related to some muscle tightness that isn’t thought to be serious…Barring some setback he will be out there in Australia against the Rams.”
It’s not that big of a revelation. McCaffrey’s own head coach, Kyle Shanahan, said the same thing yesterday amid rumors that McCaffrey is secretly holding out for a new deal. Shanahan even said that if they were playing a regular game this week, McCaffrey would be out there.
“I think they make a lot of assumptions and that would be one that they’re wrong on,” Shanahan said on Tuesday. “I think if it wasn’t Christian and we were in a game week, I think he would play today.”
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McCaffrey vs. The Injury Bug
When healthy, McCaffrey ranks among not only the best running backs in the league, but among the best of a generation. In five of the six seasons where he’s played at least 16 games, he’s finished the year with over 1,800 yards from scrimmage and gone over 2,000 in three such seasons.
That said, those 16-game seasons have been interrupted by several years where he’s played less than half of a season. Since 2020 he’s missed 37 games and is frequently on the injury report.
As far as the money goes, McCaffrey is currently earning around $12 million per year. That’s good for sixth in the NFL. While it may feel like he should be higher up on the list, the only player making substantially more right now is Saquon Barkley at $18 million per year. Everyone else is within $1.5 million of his current salary.
