Christian McCaffrey, 49ers Are Just Getting Started Tormenting Opposing NFL Defenses
San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch has never been shy about making splash moves. Last year, Lynch mortgaged the franchise's future to trade up in the 2021 draft and select quarterback Trey Lance.
Lynch struck again recently, sending a package of picks to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for running back Christian McCaffrey.
After playing sparingly in his Niners debut last week, McCaffrey saw his first extensive action with his new team Sunday against the Rams.
One game is too small a sample size to pass final judgment on San Francisco's acquisition, but if San Francisco's beatdown in Los Angeles was any indication, trading for McCaffrey was a brilliant move—one that might just make the 49ers the biggest threat to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC.
And once the Niners get Deebo Samuel back on the field, he and McCaffrey will be nightmare fuel for defensive coordinators across the league.
Upon his arrival in the Bay Area, McCaffrey told reporters that he was eager to play in Kyle Shanahan's RB-friendly offense.
"I don't know if there's anyone better at putting guys in positions to have success and tailor into what they're good at," McCaffrey said.
"For me, I've watched him do some unbelievable things with some great running backs and even the running backs in the room right now. I'm just excited to learn from them and hear how coach Shanahan coaches not just the running back position, but every single position on the field. It's something you kind of hear legends about."
The admiration society is most assuredly mutual. Shanahan raved about what McCaffrey brought to the table in San Francisco as well.
"I don't think there's anything he can't do, whether it's in the pass game, the run game, blocking," Shanahan said. "I think he's a very talented player. Just watching how he plays, he's a very smart player. He always gets to the right hole, is very smooth, and I've seen that at every level he's played in."
McCaffrey didn't have a huge impact in last week's loss to the Chiefs, but that was expected. There's only so much you can learn about a scheme in a couple of days.
But after getting a full week of practices in, Sunday's big NFC West showdown was a chance for McCaffrey to really show his team what he could do. For the talking to stop and the walking to start. And with Samuel sidelined by a hamstring injury, the Niners needed their new star to step up, answer the call and be a focal point of the offense.
Consider that call answered.
You name it, McCaffrey did it against the Rams. He carried the ball 18 times for 94 yards and a touchdown. He caught eight passes for 55 yards and a touchdown. He even threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk.
Show-off.
All told, that's 26 touches for 149 yards and two scores as a runner and receiver and a perfect passer rating of 158.3. It's the first time since LaDainian Tomlinson in 2005 that a player has run for a score, caught a touchdown pass and thrown one in the same game.
Other than that, he was just OK.
Mind you, this was in a game that was similar to McCaffrey's time in Carolina. The Rams knew he was going to get the ball a lot. But because he lined up all over the place, there was precious little they could do about it. It's hard to key on a guy that lines up all over the formation.
Now imagine the dilemma the Los Angeles Chargers will have in two weeks when they have to try to stop two of them.
Samuel and McCaffrey are great players, to be sure. But one of the things that makes them great is their ability to line up in the backfield, in the slot or even split out wide.
As Brian Renick said on the 49ers Webzone: No Huddle podcast (h/t Ryan Gilbert of Audacy), having the versatile duo on the field together will be awfully hard for opponents to defend.
"I get excited thinking about things like what's it going to look like if you have Deebo and Christian McCaffrey lined up in the backfield at the same time. What are defenses going to do? They got to be in base defense, right? You got two running backs on the field.
"So now you've got Deebo and Christian McCaffrey who can, either one of them can take a handoff or can go out on the route from the backfield. All of a sudden Kyle Shanahan unlocks scheme versatility, which he wasn't able to do with the injuries that he currently has to deal with."
It's a Kobayashi Maru—a no-win situation. If you stay in base defense to defend the run, McCaffrey and Samuel will run circles around the linebackers or safeties tasked with covering them.
Never mind that the defensive backs covering wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk and tight end George Kittle will be getting exactly zero help. Someone's going to be wide open with regularity.
Go to the nickel or dime in an effort to shore up the pass coverage and prevent death by a thousand cuts, and McCaffrey and Samuel will gash you on the ground. McCaffrey has averaged 4.6 yards per carry as a rusher for his career. Samuel averaged a gaudy 6.2 yards per carry during his breakout 2021 season.
The 49ers will bludgeon you into goo until you commit to stopping the run, and then they will make you pay for that commitment over the top.
You don't see many split backfields or "pro set" formations in 2022. But the 49ers might be the exception to that rule because lining McCaffrey and Samuel up in tandem in the backfield would be a nightmare to scheme against.
That's hardly the end of the problems for opponents, either. With veteran tackle Trent Williams back, the 49ers' offensive line goes from a potential weakness to a strength. San Francisco ranked first in the NFC in total defense and sixth in the conference in scoring defense entering Week 8.
The team's biggest weakness may be quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, but when Garoppolo plays a clean game like he did against the Rams, the Niners are going to be hard to beat.
This isn't to say that McCaffrey's arrival ensures the Niners a spot in Super Bowl LVII. There are no guarantees in the NFL, and it's a long way to February.
But with due respect to the surprising Seattle Seahawks, McCaffrey's arrival does make the Niners the team to beat in the NFC West. It gives San Francisco an offense that's potentially as lethal as the defense is stout and offers the 49ers a level of balance that only the Philadelphia Eagles can match in the conference.
And in pairing McCaffrey and Samuel, the 49ers have single-handedly caused a 492 percent spike in Pepto Bismol consumption among defensive coordinators and a lot of sleepless nights in the near future as they try in vain to devise a way to stop them.
