Christian McCaffrey got married to his longtime girlfriend Olivia Culpo over the summer, but San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan would not be surprised if McCaffrey’s head was in a different place on the special day.
McCaffrey has missed most of training camp as he nurses a minor calf injury. On Tuesday, Shanahan was asked how a player who is “so obsessed” with getting enough reps manages to prepare himself for the start of the regular season without practicing. The coach said McCaffrey’s work ethic is so strong that he finds other ways to perfect his craft.
In fact, Shanahan would not be surprised if McCaffrey was thinking about route-running while the Pro Bowl running back was walking down the aisle on his wedding day.
“When you’re hurt, you’re hurt. You can’t go,” Shanahan told reporters. “But when you take every rep, every walkthrough, everything you do and you’re just so deliberate in everything … when he’s walking down the aisle to get married, he’s probably thinking about his feet and how to do routes. No offense, Olivia, but he’s obsessed with it.”
Kyle Shanahan on Christian McCaffrey's obsession with football:
"When he is probably walking down the aisle to get married, he's probably thinking about his feet and how to do routes, no offense to Olivia [Culpo]. But He's obsessed with it"#49ers #nfl https://t.co/ruoR5hL9LL pic.twitter.com/EEON7DvgfH
— Kevin Krueger (@kevinkruegs) August 20, 2024
Shanahan was obviously exaggerating. If you saw how great of a time Greg Olsen had at McCaffrey’s wedding, you know there probably was not much X’s and O’s talk going on.
We’re guessing Culpo knows she married a football fanatic. You don’t become one of the best playmakers in the NFL by slacking off.
