Christian McCaffrey thrilled to be mastering Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers offense, and that should terrify defenses

Being traded midseason in the NFL is unlike other professional sports like the NBA, MLB or NHL where most game plans don’t have that dramatic of a difference from each other. Pro Bowl running back Christian McCaffrey had to basically learn an offense from scratch during the 2022 season when he was traded by the Carolina Panthers, who ran a more spread West Coast offense under then-offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo, to the San Francisco 49ers, who run a predominantly under center, zone-blocking scheme that often has a fullback, a nearly extinct position, on the field under head coach Kyle Shanahan. 

Following the Stanford alum’s return home to the Bay Area, McCaffrey didn’t start right away, coming off the bench in Week 7 against the Kansas City Chiefs before becoming a mainstay in the starting lineup, beginning in Week 8 against the Los Angeles Rams. Safe to say he’s fire up about being on the same page with the rest of his teammates starting in Week 1 in the upcoming season. 

“Yeah, it’s much better,” McCaffrey said, via 104.5FM KNBR, on Monday when talking about his knowledge of the 49ers’ playbook entering 2023. “OTAs were great, just to really understand the concepts and really, not just learn the running back position, but the whole offense, and understand timing with what the quarterback sees and what Kyle sees, and getting timing right with the O-line, and [FB Kyle Juszczyk], and the tight ends. So coming into camp, you’re not playing catch-up. So it’s been great to be able to kind of not just learn the offense, but master it.”  

…..

Read More

You might like