Christian McCaffrey is on a roll.
One week after earning NFC Offensive Player of the Month honors for September, the All-Pro running back was recognized as the NFC Offensive Player of the Week on Wednesday for his four-touchdown performance in the 49ers' 35-16 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
McCaffrey earned his second NFC Player of the Week honors after recording a league-high 177 all-purpose yards in the Week 4 victory, with 20 carries for 106 yards rushing and three touchdowns, and seven receptions for 71 yards and a receiving score.
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With his second nod, McCaffrey joins very notable 49ers running backs -- Garrison Hearst (3), Roger Craig (4) and Frank Gore (5) -- who have notched multiple NFC Player of the Week honors.
McCaffrey’s first time earning NFC Player of the Week was in Week 8 of the 2022 season, when the running back notched the NFL's “Triple Crown." In that win over the Los Angeles Rams, McCaffrey recorded a rushing, receiving and passing touchdown in his second game with San Francisco.
Coach Kyle Shanahan credits the running back’s work ethic as a large reason for his success.
“He works at it harder than any player I’ve been around,” Shanahan said Monday. “He doesn’t just try to figure out what he’s supposed to do. He understands the package of everybody and that’s why he picks things up fast, and that’s why he has been pretty interchangeable at all the spots we put him at.”
San Francisco 49ers
According to Next Gen Stats, the Stanford product gained 17 yards after catch over expected (YACOE) against the Cardinals and leads all NFL running backs in that category with 219 YACOE this season. McCaffrey also recorded his highest rushing success rate since joining the 49ers at 55 percent.
Through four games, the 49ers ball-carrier leads the league in rushing attempts (80), rushing yards, (459), rushing touchdowns (8) rushing yards per game (114.8), rushing attempts and receptions combined (98), and yards from scrimmage (600).
While there have been some questions about McCaffrey’s usage/number of snap counts on the field, the running back actually played less snaps in Week 4 (47 snaps, 85 percent) than he did in Week 3 (51 snaps, 61 percent).
Expect the trend of McCaffrey usage to continue when the 49ers host the Dallas Cowboys on "Sunday Night Football" at Levi’s Stadium.