Kyle Shanahan had troubling description of Christian McCaffrey’s injury

Oct 30, 2022; Inglewood, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) before playing against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Christian McCaffrey was surprisingly inactive for the San Francisco 49ers’ first game of the season, and some information Kyle Shanahan shared about the running back’s injury did not sound overly encouraging.

McCaffrey did not play in the 49ers’ 32-19 win over the New York Jets on Monday night at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. In a conference call on Tuesday, Shanahan told reporters that McCaffrey is dealing with a calf injury and tendonitis of the Achilles. Though Shanahan claimed McCaffrey would have been able to suit up if it were a playoff game, the comments raised some concerns.

“It’s not just the calf, it’s the Achilles, and the Achilles is tendinitis, and that stuff comes and goes. And when it is acting up it’s something you’ve got to be very careful about,” Shanahan said, via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. “Christian is very diligent about that stuff. If it was a playoff game, he made it very clear to me he believed he could go. But when you hear that type of stuff, and it’s not a playoff game, and it’s Week 1, especially when you’re dealing with the lower extremities like that, it was a tough decision, but hearing all the words and stuff, in the long run it made it easy.”

The big question is if the injury is something that McCaffrey will have to deal with all year. Shanahan admitted that the issue is similar to the one that landed McCaffrey on the injury report prior to a playoff game against the Green Bay Packers in January, though the All-Pro was able to play.

There have already been some questions about whether the 49ers were misleading with McCaffrey’s injury status leading up to Monday’s game.

The Niners travel to Minnesota to take on the Vikings on Sunday in Week 2. McCaffrey’s status for that game is very much in question as well.