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ESPN Predicts 1,500-Yard Season From 49ers McCaffrey

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Nathan Karseno | Last updated May 22, 2025 11:17 PM ET

Among the litany of things that went wrong during the San Francisco 49ers disappointing 6-11 season in 2024, star running back Christian McCaffrey once again fell into injury woes.

The former Offensive Player of the Year played just four games after dealing with Achilles and knee issues. This marks the fourth full season in which McCaffrey has played less than 10 games.

Thankfully for Niners fans, "CMC" is expected to be ready for training camp and Week 1 in 2025. In an ESPN prediction, he is expected to return in a big way.

NFL analyst Will Clay has crafted a full-roster prediction sheet for the 2025 49ers. McCaffrey's stats present a noticeable bounce-back with nearly 1,500 all-purpose yards.

The prediction expects McCaffrey to return to near-top form with just under 1,000 yards rushing, a solid 506 yards receiving and 10 total touchdowns. He slots in as the fourth-leading receiver in this mock behind George Kittle, Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall.

But more importantly, he's expected to only miss three games.

The only season McCaffrey has ever appeared in all 17 games was the season he split time between the Carolina Panthers and 49ers after his trade. Since then, only his OPOY season in 2023 has seen McCaffrey play in at least 11.

The star running back has reportedly had "no restrictions from previous injuries" at OTAs this offseason.

"I’m feeling great. It’s been such a smooth process, a lot of hard work," McCaffrey said earlier this week. "As soon as that injury happened in Buffalo, this was my goal to not miss a day of OTAs and be back ready to go with nothing hindering me and that’s where I’m at.”

These projected numbers would still be some ways off his 2023 pace (2,023 all-purpose yards, 21 TDs), but the 49ers would obviously love to see this amount of production out of their $38 million star.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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