The 49ers hit a home run when trading for star running back Christian McCaffrey. San Francisco’s offense became even more lethal with the addition of the 26-year-old running back.
While the 49ers did pay a steep price, sending a 2023 second-, third- and fourth-round pick and a 2024 fifth-round pick to the Carolina Panthers on Oct. 20, McCaffrey has lived up to the billing.
49ers general manager John Lynch believes the Stanford product is the offense’s version of All-Pro pass rusher Nick Bosa.
“He’s been a godsend,” Lynch said Wednesday on 95.7 The Game's "Morning Roast" to hosts Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky. "Everything you see on the field. You think you know a player and then you have a different reality when you see them up close, when they’re on your team. He’s just as good as we thought he’d be on the field or better. I think the intelligence that he plays with is really just elite. His skill, his versatility, all that.
“I think it’s just the commitment to being that player is really what you don’t know from afar. Man, this guy, I tell people all the time, he works coaches’ hours. He’s here in the morning when you get there and he’s still here when you’re leaving. It’s just so impressive. There’s an aura of confidence when it comes with having a guy like Christian on your side like that.
"He’s like our version of Bosa on defense.”
San Francisco 49ers
Find the latest San Francisco 49ers news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.
McCaffrey tallied 746 yards and six rushing touchdowns on 159 carries in 11 regular-season games with the 49ers while notching 52 receptions, 464 yards and four touchdowns in the passing game.
RELATED: Brock Purdy's success testament to Jimmy Garoppolo, Christian McCaffrey says
Linebacker Fred Warner and other teammates publicly expressed their excitement shortly after the trade went down, one that has proven to be the most productive midseason addition in NFL history.
Adding McCaffrey has the 49ers within reach of Super Bowl LVII, but first, they’ll need to get through the Dallas Cowboys in their NFC Divisional Playoff on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.