49ers' McCaffrey Offers Huge Announcement on Future

In the mind of Saquon Barkley, he wouldn't be here - "here'' being a guy who ended up winning the Super Bowl while being paid what is now a $20 million APY deal - if it wasn't for one guy before him.

“Shout out to Christian,” Barkley said before his Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the Big Game.

Barkley? First off, he's special; no running back or free agent in NFL history has come through with the kind of debut season that Barkley did with the Eagles.

He is going to be remembered as a $20 mil guy and as a 2,000-yard-level guy.

“Shout out to Christian,” Barkley said. “He’s the one who started that. You can see in San Fran, how much of a different team they are with Christian than without him.”

Indeed, McCaffrey has long been the standard-setter here. Last spring, the San Francisco 49ers gave him a two-year contract extension worth $19 million per year. That came on the heels of McCaffrey already sitting atop the running back market, as he was averaging $16 million per year on a contract signed with the Carolina Panthers in 2020.

The 2024 problem? McCaffrey was destroyed by injury as he played just four games.

On Tuesday, though, it's McCaffrey who is doing the shouting out with a major announcement.

"49ers RB Christian McCaffrey says he has no restrictions from previous injuries and is participating fully in the offseason program," Nick Wagoner wrote on X.

McCaffrey back to where he was, say, in 2023, when he rushed for 1,459 yards and 14 touchdowns and also caught 67 passes for 564 yards and seven more TDs?

That's the shout out San Fran has been waiting for.