SANTA CLARA — Running back Christian McCaffrey had 339 touches during the 2023 regular season.
He earned NFL Offensive Player of the Year, and the 49ers came within an overtime stop of winning the Super Bowl.
In a not entirely unrelated comparison, McCaffrey appeared in just four games last year. The 49ers finished last in the NFC West with a 6-11 record.
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SIGN UP HERE “You guys saw in 2023 how important he is to what we want to be as an offense,” 49ers offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said this week.
“He’s an elite player, and we're going to do everything we can to get him the ball as much as we can. His health is really important. He’s one of our central players on offense.”
Make no mistake -- McCaffrey is the central player on the 49ers’ offense. It was evident in 2023, when he scored 14 touchdowns rushing and seven more as a receiver.
Last year, he did not get into the end zone.
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“We want to hand him the ball,” Kubiak said. “We want to throw him the ball. How he changes defenses when he's on the field for how they have to play us in certain coverages.
“Putting more guys in the box to stop the run, it has an effect on the opponents.”
Last year, he missed training camp and the first eight games of the regular season with Achilles tendinitis in both legs. Then, as he appeared to be rounding into shape, he sustained a knee injury that ended his season.
McCaffrey did not require surgery. He is taking part in the 49ers’ offseason program without any restrictions.
“Christian is doing great,” Kubiak said. “He looks awesome and we're pumped up that he's out there working every day.”
Kubiak said the team will monitor how much McCaffrey works during practices in order to limit his workload to give him the best chance at remaining healthy during the season.
And while the 49ers might want to deploy backups Isaac Guerendo and rookie Jordan James, reducing McCaffrey’s playing time during games is not so simple.
After all, the 49ers are a better team when McCaffrey is on the field.
“Christian's a really hard guy to take off the field for a lot of reasons,” Kubiak said. “One, because he is a great player, but, two, because he does not want to come out. Sometimes there's a battle.
“That's part of what makes him a great player is he's so competitive, and he wants to be out there. But it's on us as coaches to try to do the best we can to balance it out.”