SI: 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey will Win Comeback Player of the Year

From 2022 to 2023, the 49ers' most valuable player was Christian McCaffrey and it wasn't even close.

He made everyone else better. He made Jimmy Garoppolo better. He made Brock Purdy better. He made Brandon Aiyuk better. He made Kyle Shanahan better. Then, he missed eight games last season with bilateral Achilles tendonitis. When he returned, he was a shell of himself. And after just four games, he tore his PCL and missed the rest of the season.

Now, McCaffrey says he's fully healthy with zero restrictions. And that's why Conor Orr projects McCaffrey to win the Comeback Player of the Year Award.

"The 49ers had 11 picks in this year’s draft and did not even touch the offensive side of the ball until Round 4," writes Orr. "While the 49ers did select a running back (Oregon’s Jordan James in the fifth round), the team’s lack of urgency surrounding the position—in addition to San Francisco trading Jordan Mason to the Vikings—signals that there have been some positive early returns on McCaffrey’s health."

If McCaffrey stays healthy all season, he certainly could win this award. But just because he feels good now doesn't mean he'll hold up. Achilles tendonitis is an overuse injury. The more he plays, the more likely the injury pops back up. So the 49ers will have to manage his workload, something they did not do last season when he finally returned.

And McCaffrey will have to show that he still has something left in the tank. His entire game is based on speed and quickness, and last season he had neither. He topped out at 17.4 miles per hour and forced just five missed tackles in four games. The previous season when he was the Offensive Player of the Year, he forced 60 missed tackles.

I think a quarterback such as Dak Prescott or Trevor Lawrence has a better chance to win Comeback Player of the Year than a run-down running back.