49ers' make-or-break player for 2025: Christian McCaffrey

The 2024 season didn't go as planned for Christian McCaffrey. The San Francisco 49ers star running back appeared in just four games, starting the season on injured reserve due to Achilles tendinitis and ending it on IR with a PCL injury. In between, he managed only 348 scrimmage yards and failed to score a single touchdown.

Now, McCaffrey hopes for a bounce-back year in 2025, one that more closely mirrors his dominant 2023 campaign, when he racked up 2,023 scrimmage yards and 21 total touchdowns en route to winning NFL Offensive Player of the Year.

The 49ers' success this season may hinge on McCaffrey's ability to stay healthy and return to elite form. That's why Pro Football Focus (PFF) analyst Dalton Wasserman named him San Francisco's make-or-break player for 2025.

"Just one year removed from being arguably the best running back in football, McCaffrey endured a disaster of a 2024 season," Wasserman wrote. "He appeared in just four games due to injury and earned a career-low 71.3 PFF overall grade."

The 49ers certainly felt McCaffrey's absence last season. Without him, the team stumbled to a 6-11 record and finished last in the NFC West, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

"If McCaffrey performs like the player who was the highest-graded qualified running back in the NFL across 2022 and 2023, then San Francisco has a playoff-caliber offense," Wasserman continued. "If the injuries persist or have sapped his explosiveness, there will be serious questions about McCaffrey's future."

With the 49ers missing the postseason, McCaffrey used the extended offseason to fully recover from a physically demanding year and says he's feeling better than ever.

"I feel great," McCaffrey said last week. "This offseason, I spent a lot of time kind of building back a base, starting from scratch. So a lot of it was rehab, and I wanted to put myself in a position where I didn't miss a day of OTAs, and I could practice, and play football again, and be healthy, and not miss a day. I did that, and now, we can kind of kick back up the training again. But I feel great."