Christian McCaffrey

The San Francisco 49ers have released veteran running back Tevin Coleman, per ESPN's Field Yates.

San Francisco had a surplus of running backs after it acquired Christian McCaffrey in a trade with the Carolina Panthers last week.

The 49ers signed Coleman to their practice squad on Sept. 21, and he was elevated to the active roster on Oct. 3. In four games this season, he rushed for 26 yards and one touchdown on 12 carries in addition to catching three passes for 44 yards and a score.

Coleman began his career with the Atlanta Falcons, who selected him in the third round of the 2015 NFL draft out of Indiana. He spent four seasons with the franchise, rushing for 2,340 yards and 18 touchdowns in 56 games.

Ahead of the 2019 season, Coleman signed a two-year deal with the 49ers. In 22 games across the 2019 and 2020 campaigns, he rushed for 597 yards and six touchdowns.

The 29-year-old then joined the New York Jets for the 2021 season, rushing for 356 yards in 11 games.

Coleman has been a serviceable running back over his eight-year career, but the addition of McCaffrey left the 49ers with more players at the position than they need. McCaffrey headlines a group that includes Jeff Wilson Jr., Tyrion Davis-Price and Jordan Mason.

In addition, Week 1 starter Elijah Mitchell is on injured reserve with a knee injury.

Wilson leads the team with 454 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

The 49ers are third in the NFC West with a 3-4 record. They're set to take on the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday before hosting the Los Angeles Chargers on Nov. 13 following their bye.

As the San Francisco 49ers were close to completing their blockbuster trade for Christian McCaffrey, it appeared fans would have to wait a week to see him in action.

“No way, man," 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told general manager John Lynch when asked if he would play McCaffrey in Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs, per Peter King of NBC Sports.

Instead, McCaffrey wound up on the field for 21 snaps, according to Next Gen Stats, after contacting Shanahan and asking for a package of plays for his 49ers debut. The result was a modest 62 yards on 10 touches (eight carries, two receptions) but still far more than most expected from a player acquired in the wee hours of Thursday night.

McCaffrey will look to inject life into an offense that's been riddled by injuries. Trey Lance and Elijah Mitchell, the expected starters at quarterback and running back, are on injured reserve. Tight end George Kittle has missed two games. Perhaps more than any other team in the NFL, the 49ers have been snakebitten by injuries.

McCaffrey himself is no guarantee to stay on the field. He played a grand total of 10 games over the previous two seasons and has been on the injury report at points in 2022. Trading four draft picks for a player with his injury history is undoubtedly a risk.

That said, McCaffrey is on the short list of the league's most dynamic playmakers when he's on the field. For a team that fashions itself as a Super Bowl contender, it's apparently a risk Lynch and Shanahan found worth taking.

The San Francisco 49ers paid a high price to acquire Christian McCaffrey, but only because it came down to a bidding war with the Los Angeles Rams.

"The price was driven by Niners versus Rams, not by Christian McCaffrey," an executive involved in the trade talks told Peter King of NBC Sports.

San Francisco sent the Carolina Panthers three 2023 draft picks—in the second round, third round and fourth round—and a 2024 fifth-round pick in exchange for the star running back. As King reported, the Rams didn't want to give up too many picks in the 2023 draft after already dealing away its first-, fourth- and fifth-round picks.

According to Peter Schrager of Fox Sports (h/t Dov Kleiman), the Rams offered three picks to Carolina, but they couldn't match the 49ers' offer that featured a 2024 fourth-round pick.

While both teams wanted to add a potential game-changing player, keeping the running back away from a division rival also clearly played a role in this situation.

"I'm glad he's not there," 49ers general manager John Lynch said of McCaffrey going to the Rams.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan also discussed the major swing of the trade.

"I think everybody would love the opportunity to have a player like Christian," the coach said, per ESPN's Nick Wagoner. "So, I think everyone looks into it, but it's also nice to keep a good player away from the team that we have to compete with year in and year out."

McCaffrey had 38 rushing yards and 24 receiving yards in limited playing time during his 49ers debut in Sunday's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, but he is certain to have a bigger impact going forward.

The Rams, meanwhile, will have to keep searching the market for a running back to improve an offense that ranks 31st in rushing yards and 31st in yards per carry.

The San Francisco 49ers were blown out by the Kansas City Chiefs 44-23 on Sunday at Levi's Stadium in Christian McCaffrey's debut to fall to 3-4 on the season.

McCaffrey, who was acquired in a trade from the Carolina Panthers, finished with eight carries for 38 yards and two catches for 24 yards in Sunday's loss. He wasn't deployed as much as Niners fans had hoped.

Meanwhile, veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo completed 25 of 37 passes for 303 yards and two touchdowns against one interception in the loss.

With San Francisco boasting one of the NFL's top offenses with McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Jauan Jennings and George Kittle, fans took to Twitter following Sunday's loss to rip Garoppolo for holding back the remainder of the offense:

Garoppolo is only starting for the 49ers because second-year quarterback Trey Lance suffered a season-ending injury in the team's second game of the season. However, it's clear he is holding back the San Francisco offense from reaching its full potential

The 49ers will face the Los Angeles Rams next weekend looking to even their record before facing the Los Angeles Chargers on Nov. 13.

In addition to getting several injured players back, the San Francisco 49ers are going to have their new running back on the field Sunday.

Per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Christian McCaffrey is expected to play against the Kansas City Chiefs after being acquired on Thursday.

Amid rumblings that the Carolina Panthers were going into sell mode after starting the season 1-5 and firing head coach Matt Rhule, McCaffrey was dealt to San Francisco for four draft picks.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan was non-committal about McCaffrey's availability for this week's game because of the lack of time he would have to learn the team's playbook.

"I'm still up in the air whether we're going to be able to get him here for Sunday or not," Shanahan said Friday on KNBR's Murph & Mac show (h/t David Bonilla of 49ersWebZone.com). "I know for sure he'll be here the following Sunday. But that's kind of why I'm in a wait-and-see approach right now. ... This happened so fast, and we've just got to see where he's at."

ESPN's Adam Schefter noted the 49ers have put together a package of plays in their game plan specifically for McCaffrey.

San Francisco's rushing attack has been productive this season. Jeff Wilson Jr. leads the team with 400 rushing yards on 81 attempts. Deebo Samuel is second with 136 yards on the ground, but 105 of those came in the first two games.

McCaffrey is one of the best all-around running backs in the NFL. The 2019 Pro Bowler ranks fourth in the league with 118 touches and 670 yards from scrimmage in six games this season.

Along with having McCaffrey, the 49ers are also expected to get back injured starters Trent Williams, Nick Bosa, Mike McGlinchey and Jimmie Ward. Charvarius Ward and Talanoa Hufanga did practice on Friday, but both are officially listed as questionable.

Having McCaffrey available will certainly help the offense against a Chiefs team looking to rebound after last week's 24-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

Injuries and erratic performances have contributed to San Francisco's 3-3 start to the season. The team enters Week 7 tied with the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks for first place in the NFC West.