The wait appears over. Christian McCaffrey might finally be off the shelf.
That’s according to 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, who said Thursday that the veteran running back is on the right track and expects McCaffrey to play in Week 10 on Sunday.
“I do feel good one way or another. He’s had two good days… he’s been awesome these last two days,” Shanahan said on KNBR’s “Tolbert & Copes.”
“So hopefully, that continues to go well and I expect to get him out there and you never know for a setback or anything but these two days have been great and I expect to see him out there.”
The news comes a week and a half after NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported on “Good Morning Football” that he would not be surprised if McCaffrey was back on the field for a matchup with the Buccaneers, which comes on the heels of San Francisco having a bye week.
It’s a long road back for McCaffrey, who dealt with a calf injury in the preseason before Shanahan revealed after a Week 1 win over the Jets — which the running back was a surprise inactive for — that the star also had Achilles tendinitis.
He was then placed on injured reserve shortly thereafter.
On Monday, McCaffrey finally returned to practice, making his teammates ecstatic.
“You could put him in any offense and that would make it better,” offensive lineman Trent Williams told reporters. “Obviously, our offense is kind of tailor-made to him and some of his strengths so it definitely will be a tremendous lift for us.”
McCaffrey, the AP Offensive Player of the Year in 2023, would be a welcome sight to the 49ers, who have started the season with a 4-4 mark.
Jordan Mason has done an admirable job in place of the three-time Pro Bowler, rushing for 685 yards in eight games.
But McCaffrey has averaged 807 receiving yards per season in his career, something Mason (10 catches for 86 yards this season) has not been able to match.
So if McCaffrey is able to play Sunday, he should give the entire offense a huge boost against Tampa Bay.
