Can the 49ers Count on Christian McCaffrey to Stay Healthy this Year?

No one burned the 49ers more than Christian McCaffrey did last season.

After carrying the team and winning the Offensive Player of the Year Award for 2023, he played in only four games in 2024. And when he played, he wasn't particularly good. That was before he tore his PCL.

Now, he's 29, which is old for a running back. Still, he's had a long offseason to recover and he says he's 100 percent healthy. That's why ESPN expects McCaffrey to have a bounce-back season this year.

"Fantasy's dominant non-QB for the 2022 and 2023 seasons burned both the 49ers and fantasy investors last season, as a preseason calf injury delayed his debut -- not for mere weeks, but until Week 10 in November," writes ESPN senior fantasy football writer Eric Karabell. "McCaffrey ended up participating in only four games and at an ordinary level, scoring nary a touchdown. McCaffrey will not be the No. 1 pick in 2025 drafts, but many will fade him in early rounds due to the extreme risk of potential missed games. McCaffrey has played in double-digit games in just two of the past five seasons."

That's a sobering statistic. It seems 2022 and 2023 may have been outlier years for McCaffrey, a smaller running back who has touched the ball thousands of times since college.

If the 49ers are smart, they'll use McCaffrey much less this year than they did in the past. Fortunately for them, second-year running back Isaac Guerendo is an extremely dangerous receiver as well and can do a lot of the things McCaffrey does for the offense.