NFC West

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:

The only people who can stop the 49ers offense are Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo.

— Grant Cohn (@grantcohn) October 23, 2022

watching jimmy garoppolo is an exhausting experience

— brianna pirre (@bsp_13) October 23, 2022

I can’t stress enough just how much I hate watching Jimmy Garoppolo

— Sonny (@s_persources) October 23, 2022

At what point do 49ers fans file suit against Jimmy Garoppolo for intentional infliction of emotional distress?pic.twitter.com/gS8Qaq7IDG

— Jason B. Hirschhorn (@by_JBH) October 23, 2022

jimmy garoppolo spent all them years playing wit tom brady and learned NOTHING

— ©©™ (@ImSimplyCC) October 23, 2022

Jimmy Garoppolo is one of those guys who I watch and think “Hey, this guy really isn’t too bad,” and then he will do the thing that makes me go “Oh yeah, right, I forgot.”

— Joe Posnanski (@JPosnanski) October 23, 2022

Imagine being fans and saying Jimmy Garoppolo gives you the best chance to win.

— ᵏʸˡᵉ (@49ersKyle) October 23, 2022

After today there is no way that people still believe Jimmy Garoppolo gives the 49ers a better chance to win than Trey Lance

— Camden Scalera (@Triple757903415) October 23, 2022

Kyle shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo are the chiefs best players today.

— The Bitchy Princess (@bridgetbaseball) October 23, 2022

Jimmy G is the weakest link #49ers

— King Friday the 13th❌ (@budmanbegins) October 23, 2022

Jimmy G continues to hold the niners back

— gb (@_K1llaCam_) October 23, 2022

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.

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf was ruled out for the remainder of Sunday's matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers because of a knee injury, per the team.

After the game, head coach Pete Carroll told reporters X-rays on Metcalf's knee were negative, and the wideout would undergo more testing back in Seattle.

Metcalf caught 75 passes for 967 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2021, and he's added a 30/406/2 stat line in 2022. He sported a 17-game average of 75 receptions for 1,100 yards and 10 scores over the first three seasons of his career.

The 24-year-old has been a breakout superstar for the Seahawks, who selected the Ole Miss star with the 64th overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft. One year later, Metcalf posted an 83/1,303/10 stat line en route to a Pro Bowl appearance.

He's endured a long and arduous road since his college career came to a heartbreaking end after he suffered a cervical neck fracture in Oct. 2018 while making a block.

Three months later, he was cleared for all football activities. Metcalf hasn't missed a game during his first three NFL seasons since.

Unfortunately, Metcalf has to come back from another injury.

Sans the star wideout, the Seahawks will turn to Tyler Lockett to be their No. 1 pass-catcher. Dee Eskridge and Marquise Goodwin could also see more snaps.

It'll be hard to replace the 6'4", 235-pound Metcalf, though, given his tremendous skill set, size and production.

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is clearly in favor of a reunion with free-agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.

"Absolutely. That's my guy!" Stafford told TMZ Sports when asked if he would want Beckham on the team in the future.

"I keep in contact with him. I know he's been trying to get healthy. We'll see what happens."

Beckham played the back half of last season with the Rams and helped the team win its first Super Bowl in Los Angeles. He notably starred in the playoffs with 21 catches for 288 yards and two scores.

Unfortunately, Beckham suffered a torn ACL during the Super Bowl. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network previously reported that he's expected to return to the field in mid-November.

OBJ should have multiple quality options to pick his next team. Of note, the Kansas City Chiefs are reportedly in the mix, per Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network.

But the Rams should be as well. Stafford isn't the only Ram who has publicly expressed interest in Beckham returning, as cornerback Jalen Ramsey has done so too.

At the moment, though, Beckham is working his way back to the field as the NFL season plays out. He'll be an excellent midseason addition wherever he goes.

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.

Count San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch among those who are pleased the Niners managed to beat out the Los Angeles Rams in the sweepstakes for running back Christian McCaffrey.

Lynch, who acquired McCaffrey from the Carolina Panthers on Thursday for second-, third- and fourth-round draft picks in 2023 and a fifth-round pick in 2024, said the following about stealing the talented running back out from under the NFC West rival Rams on Friday, per ESPN's Nick Wagoner:

"I'm glad he's not there," Lynch said. "It seems like a lot of these situations end up where it's us against them in these things. ... I know their propensity to come in late and go big. And so, I was trying to get it done before, but that wasn't gonna happen."

NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported Thursday that the Rams made a "push" for McCaffrey but couldn't get a deal done. Ultimately, the bevy of compensatory draft picks the Niners had to draw from put them over the top.

In recent years, the Rams have not hesitated to pull the trigger on significant trades, acquiring cornerback Jalen Ramsey, pass-rusher Von Miller and quarterback Matthew Stafford. All three players played a huge role in L.A. winning the Super Bowl last season.

During an appearance on the Flying Coach podcast with Rams head coach Sean McVay and NFL Network's Peter Schrager last year (h/t NFL.com's Kevin Patra), 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan admitted he was frustrated when McVay and the Rams managed to beat them out and acquire Stafford from the Detroit Lions.

The 49ers got the better of the Rams this time in a move that could completely shift the balance of power in the NFC West.

Despite being heralded as one of the top divisions in the NFL entering the 2022 campaign, no NFC West team has a winning record this season, as the 49ers, Rams and Seattle Seahawks are tied at the top with 3-3 marks.

Now, the Niners have added McCaffrey to an offense that was already filled with weapons, such as wide receivers Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk and tight end George Kittle.

Injuries limited McCaffrey to just 10 games in 2020 and 2021 combined, but he has looked healthy and been productive this season, rushing for 393 yards and two touchdowns while also catching 33 passes for 277 yards and a score.

In his last fully healthy season in 2019, McCaffrey led the NFL in touches (403), yards from scrimmage (2,392) and total touchdowns (19), plus he caught 116 passes.

Acquiring McCaffrey may be the move that puts the 49ers over the top not only because of the positive impact he could have on the offense, but also due to the fact that the Rams were blocked from landing him.

Christian McCaffrey is going from playing for one of the NFL's worst offenses in the Carolina Panthers to playing for a much better one in San Francisco, and the new 49ers running back is excited for the opportunity.

"It’s one of the most explosive offenses in the league. ... How could you not wanna play here as an offensive weapon?" McCaffrey said, per 95.7 The Game. "I’m extremely fired up."

The Panthers traded McCaffrey to the 49ers on Thursday night in exchange for second, third and fourth-round picks in the 2023 NFL draft and a 2024 fifth-round pick.

When healthy, the 26-year-old is one of the best offensive threats in the NFL.

The eighth overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft, McCaffrey spent the first five-plus years of his career in Carolina. His best season came in 2019, when he rushed for 1,387 yards and 15 touchdowns in addition to catching 116 passes for 1,005 yards and four scores en route to Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections.

Through six games this season, McCaffrey has rushed for 393 yards and two touchdowns and has caught 33 passes for 277 yards and one score.

The Panthers have arguably the worst offense in the NFL, averaging a league-low 260 yards per game. The San Francisco offense has been far better, averaging 340.2 yards per game.

McCaffrey joins an offensive group that includes Jimmy Garoppolo, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk. He figures to be the team's top running back, taking over for Jeff Wilson Jr., Tyrion Davis-Price and Tevin Coleman.

Elijah Mitchell, who had served as the team's top running back, is on injured reserve with a knee injury.

The 49ers take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, which could be McCaffrey's first game with the franchise. They are tied with the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams for the NFC West lead with a 3-3 record.

The San Francisco 49ers aren't planning for running back Christian McCaffrey to be a "one-year rental" after trading for the Carolina Panthers star Thursday.

"I don't think this is something we would look into if we thought it was just for this year," head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters Friday. "I think Christian with his contract is gonna be around here a little bit. It's not just a one-year rental."

The 49ers sent multiple draft picks to Carolina for McCaffrey:

Trade comp: 49ers are sending second-, third- and fourth-round picks in 2023 and a fifth-round pick in 2024 in exchange for RB Christian McCaffrey, sources tell ESPN.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 21, 2022

McCaffrey is under contract for three more years, but the 49ers could release him next offseason without paying any dead-cap money.

However, Shanahan's comments and the 49ers' decision to deal four draft picks for the running back indicate a longer-term plan for the ex-Stanford star in the Bay Area.

McCaffrey is playing in his sixth NFL season. He was one of the league's top superstars in 2018 and 2019 with 4,357 scrimmage yards and 32 touchdowns. His 2,392 yards and 19 touchdowns led the NFL in 2019.

Injuries held him to 10 games over the next two seasons. He's been healthy this year, though, and has averaged over 100 yards per game (670 total yards in six games).

But the Panthers have struggled to an NFL-worst 1-5 record. The offense ranks No. 27 in points scored, and the defense sits at No. 22. Carolina fired head coach Matt Rhule after a 37-15 home loss to the 49ers on Oct. 9. The team traded wide receiver Robbie Anderson to the Arizona Cardinals on Monday, and now McCaffrey is out of town as well.

As Carolina looks toward the future, the 49ers are focused on the present in hopes of making another Super Bowl run. The path to the NFC West title is clear given that no team (including the 3-3 49ers) sits above .500.

Adding a player like McCaffrey boosts the offense and puts the 49ers in contention for their third NFC Championship Game appearance in four years.

If the team plans on keeping him around into the mid-2020s, though, then some salary-cap maneuvering will have to go down. General manager John Lynch spoke on that topic Friday:

Lynch on the future cap maneuvering that will have to go on to keep McCaffrey on the team in '23 and beyond: "We've obviously put a lot of thought into it, but there's obviously going to be some inflection points where we have figure some things out and we will."

— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) October 21, 2022

Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap noted the team could redo his deal, a four-year, $64 million contract extension through 2025:

"The only remaining guarantee on the contract is a $1 million injury guarantee for 2023 which is basically meaningless since the CBA offers him more injury protection if hurt. His salary next year is $12 million. Given the price they gave up I would expect the team to strongly try to redo that deal and bring that salary down by a few million so they can keep him."

The cap hits amount to $12 million a season from 2023 to 2025.

McCaffrey will look to make his 49ers debut Sunday at home against the Kansas City Chiefs.

New San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey will shed No. 22 following his trade from the Carolina Panthers.

McCaffrey will wear No. 23, per ESPN's Field Yates. The number was previously warn by practice squad running back Marlon Mack, who was spotted sporting a No. 36 jersey in practice Friday, per ESPN's Nick Wagoner.

Christian McCaffrey will officially wear number 23 for the 49ers.

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) October 21, 2022

New team, new number. @CMC_22#FTTB pic.twitter.com/B2gKmh5514

— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) October 21, 2022

The Athletic's Matt Barrows noted the two digits in McCaffrey's new number add up to the number he wore at Stanford:

Christian McCaffrey’s college number was 5

2 + 3 = 5

His new number is 23

Marlon Mack wearing 36 at practice

— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) October 21, 2022

The Panthers traded McCaffrey to the 49ers for second, third and fourth rounds picks in the 2023 NFL draft and a fifth-round pick in the 2024 draft. He will be San Francisco's top running back, topping a depth chart that includes Jeff Wilson Jr. (who wears No. 22), Tevin Coleman and Tyrion Davis-Price.

In six games with the Panthers, McCaffrey rushed for 393 yards and two touchdowns.

There's nothing like a late-night blockbuster to start a weekend of NFL action off right.

Late Thursday night, the San Francisco 49ers sent shock waves rippling across the league by dealing a package of picks to the Carolina Panthers for star running back Christian McCaffrey.

For the player, it's a homecoming of sorts—a return to Northern California after playing collegiately at Stanford. For the Panthers, it's a sign that Carolina is blowing the team up and starting from scratch.

For the 49ers, it means San Francisco is going all-in on the 2022 season. That the team is confident enough that McCaffrey makes it a legitimate Super Bowl contender that it's further mortgaging the franchise's future. That adding arguably the most versatile and dangerous back in the NFL is the missing piece that will put the 49ers over the top.

While there's no guarantee McCaffrey's arrival puts the 49ers on a collision course with Glendale, Arizona, and Super Bowl LVII, it's hard to argue it didn't shift the balance of power even further in San Francisco's direction in the NFC West and make the Niners the NFC's second-best team on paper.

No one was happier to hear the news that McCaffrey was headed west than 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, as he said on KNBR on Friday (h/t David Bonilla of 49ers Webzone).

"It was more a big smile and then like, 'All right, I've got to go back and redo third downs, redo red zone, redo everything,'" Shanahan said. "And then it was like, 'Wait a second. He's still got to come and pass the physical. He's not going to be at practice.'"

It's not hard to see why Shanahan was excited. Through the first six games of the 2022 season, McCaffrey essentially was the offense for the Panthers. Even as defenses keyed on him on the worst team in the league, he amassed 670 total yards. He averaged 4.6 yards a carry and was on pace for over 90 receptions and almost 1,900 total yards.

McCaffrey's last full season was one of the best by a running back in recent memory. In 2019, he became just the third player in league history to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season. He averaged 4.8 yards per carry that season and scored 19 touchdowns.

Simply put, when healthy and on top of his game, the 26-year-old McCaffrey does everything at an elite level. It's not that opponents didn't try to stop him in Charlotte. They just couldn't.

Of course, adding a player of that caliber didn't come cheaply for San Francisco. Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the 49ers sent Carolina a second-round pick, a third-rounder and a fourth-rounder in 2023 and a 2024 fifth-round pick. His contract carries cap hits of $12 million in 2023 and 2024, although this year's cap hit is negligible after the Panthers reworked McCaffrey's contract in the offseason.

Combined with what the 49ers spent to trade up for quarterback Trey Lance in 2021, Shanahan and general manager John Lynch can just sleep in when the 2023 draft rolls around.

The 49ers have made their selections on the 2023 Draft.
They are Trey Lance and Christian McCaffrey.
Their next pick is in the fifth round.

— Andrew Brandt (@AndrewBrandt) October 21, 2022

The deal admittedly carries risks beyond the costs in draft capital and cap space. McCaffrey missed 23 of 33 games in 2020 and 2021 with shoulder, ankle and hamstring injuries. But the injuries weren't repetitive, and he has shown no ill effects from them in 2022.

The future is now in San Francisco. The team shoved all its chips into the middle of the table. When you consider what McCaffrey could add to the 49ers offense, it's not hard to see why.

The first six weeks of the 2022 season have been bumpy in San Francisco. The Niners have a win over the rival Rams to their credit, but they also have losses to two teams with losing records. Last week, the Niners were handled with relative ease by a Falcons team no one is slating for the Super Bowl.

Like the team itself, San Francisco's offense has been uneven. But even before the trade, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo expressed confidence that the offense was turning a corner:

"I mean, there's just certain plays where there's a trust factor. I think that plays a big part in any offense, just between the quarterback and the skill guys, there's a trust factor that, it's not just given either. You got to earn that stuff, you got to earn it in here, in the locker room out on the field, away from the facility, whatever you do. I think there's a trust factor that we're moving in the right direction. We just need to make that happen quicker rather than later."

San Francisco's offensive issues can be partly attributed to thrusting Garoppolo back into the lineup without the benefit of much offseason work after Lance suffered a season-ending injury in Week 2. And given that McCaffrey has next to no time to prepare to face the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Shanahan allowed that he may not play in Week 7.

"I'm still up in the air whether we're going to be able to get him here for Sunday or not," he said. "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."

Once McCaffrey is up to speed, though, the 49ers offense should start heading in that right direction at warp speed.

Under Shanahan, the Niners have been one of the NFL's better running teams using a menagerie of late-round picks and undrafted free agents. This year, the 49ers rank 12th in the league in rushing. Last year, they were seventh. Players like Elijah Mitchell and Jeff Wilson Jr. were great finds by the 49ers, but they're not remotely the level of talent that McCaffrey is.

With McCaffrey in the fold, the 49ers have the best assemblage of skill-position talent in the NFC. Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel at wide receiver. George Kittle at tight end. And now McCaffrey. Both Samuel and McCaffrey can do damage from all over the formation as well—chess pieces that are a dream for Shanahan and the stuff of nightmares for opposing defensive coordinators.

Add in that the 49ers should get offensive tackle Trent Williams back soon and that San Francisco's defense ranks first in the NFL in total defense and second against the pass, against the run and in points allowed, and the only thing standing between the Niners and the title of the NFC's best team on paper is Garoppolo.

However, even if you think the 49ers aren't the NFC's best team, they are easily the front-runners in the NFC West. The Rams are 26th in the league in offense thanks to a dismal run game (Los Angeles reportedly made its own push for McCaffrey) and offensive line. The Seattle Seahawks are a nice story, but their atrocious defense caps their ceiling. And while the Arizona Cardinals are not a bad team, they are also not a good one.

It seems odd to be this excited about a team that will more likely than not be 3-4 in a few days. But even if San Francisco loses to the Chiefs on Sunday, it won't be more than one game back of first with 10 to play. Next week's tilt with the Rams will feature a much different team than the one we've seen to date. A more dangerous team.

And come February, we may well look back on Oct. 20 as the day the balance of power shifted in the NFC.

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray downplayed any issues with head coach Kliff Kingsbury following a heated sideline interaction during Thursday's 42-34 win over the New Orleans Saints.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Murray explained his reaction was prompted by Kingsbury's animated behavior.

"It was just in the moment and after that, we’re all good," Murray said.

The incident occurred with 2:32 remaining in the second quarter when Murray called a timeout with the play clock winding down. Television cameras showed him mouthing "calm the f--k down" to Kingsbury as he was walking to the sideline.

"The clock was running down and we couldn't have got off the play that we were trying to run," Murray told reporters. "So, it was, I guess it's my fault. I'll take it."

Kingsbury joked after the game that Murray "said I didn't look good on TV acting that fiery."

Much has been made about the relationship between Murray and the Cardinals. After he signed a five-year, $230.5 million contract extension in July, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported the deal included a clause requiring the two-time Pro Bowler to complete four hours of independent study every week.

Amid backlash to the clause, the Cardinals announced on July 28 they were removing it from Murray's deal.

Things have been rough for the Cardinals since the season began. They averaged 19 points and 346 yards per game through the first six weeks. Their 2-4 record entering Week 7 was the worst in the NFC West.

Despite scoring 42 points against the Saints, Arizona's offense still didn't look like it did at its peak from the 2021 season. The unit managed just 326 total yards, with 14 points coming from the defense on two pick-sixes late in the first half.

Week 7 did mark the season debut for DeAndre Hopkins. The three-time All-Pro wide receiver was suspended for the first six games for violating the NFL's performance-enhancing drug policy.

Hopkins made his presence felt against the Saints with 103 yards on 10 receptions. He is only the second Arizona receiver to have at least 100 yards in a game this season (Marquise Brown in Week 3).

The Cardinals will have a couple of extra days off to prepare for their Week 8 showdown with the Minnesota Vikings on Oct. 30.