The San Francisco 49ers took two significant health steps this weekend, and Christian McCaffrey was the biggest one.
McCaffrey returned to practice on Sunday for the first time since August 8. Combined with George Kittle’s activation off the PUP list, the 49ers now have their two most important skill-position players back on the practice field with just over two weeks until the season opens in Melbourne, Australia.
McCaffrey has been dealing with a lower-body soreness issue that the team has kept largely quiet. The 49ers have been extra cautious with him ever since a similar wave of soft-tissue injuries wrecked his 2024 season and cost him nearly the entire year. Kyle Shanahan has said all summer that the team’s plan is to prioritize Week 1 readiness over preseason snaps, and McCaffrey’s absence from practice for over two weeks was consistent with that plan.
Getting him back now, even in a limited capacity, is huge.
When healthy, McCaffrey is the closest thing the modern NFL has to a true bell-cow. He rushes, he catches, he blocks, and he handles a workload most running backs cannot. His last fully healthy season, in 2023, ended with him winning Offensive Player of the Year and carrying the 49ers to the Super Bowl. Even at 30, he remains the offense’s engine.
The 49ers offense is a fundamentally different unit with McCaffrey on the field. Brock Purdy’s play-action becomes automatic when the run game has to be respected. The middle-of-the-field routes for Kittle and Ricky Pearsall open up. Deebo Samuel becomes a matchup nightmare. Everything runs through the threat McCaffrey creates.
Without him, the 49ers have to rely on Isaac Guerendo and Jordan Mason to carry the load. Both are talented backs. Neither is Christian McCaffrey.
The other encouraging signal here is what it says about the team’s medical staff. The 49ers have taken heat for years about how they manage soft-tissue injuries, particularly with McCaffrey. If this quieter approach, keeping him off the field for extended stretches during camp, ends up delivering a healthier season, that would validate the strategy in a big way.
Kittle back Sunday, McCaffrey back Sunday. That is not a coincidence. The 49ers front office and coaching staff have circled Week 1 in Australia for months. Everything about the summer has been engineered to have their core players ready for that opening kickoff.
The remaining question is whether either player actually sees the field in the last preseason game. San Francisco is not going to risk them, most likely. Expect a limited walkthrough, some scout-team reps, and then a full green light for the opener.
For 49ers fans, this is the news you have been waiting for since January. The Achilles tear that ended Kittle’s playoff run last year hurt. The lingering McCaffrey issues have been terrifying. Having both of them practicing again, at the same time, in mid-August, is the best possible sign for a franchise that expects to be in the NFC Championship conversation once again.
The road to Australia officially starts now.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
