San Francisco 49ers’ star running back Christian McCaffrey was limited in practice Thursday with a calf injury. What caught the attention of outsiders is the 49ers changing his injury from “calf” to “calf/Achilles” on Thursday.
It’s the same calf injury that kept him out of full participation in practices during training camp and the preseason. San Francisco general manager John Lynch indicated he wasn’t concerned about McCaffrey’s availability for the team’s game against the New York Jets on Monday night.
Lynch expressed confidence McCaffrey will be ready.
“He looks like Christian, and that’s a good thing for us. He’s looked like Christian out here at practice. We had a bonus [practice] here on Tuesday … and he was there. He was out there yesterday. So Christian’s looking really good,” Lynch said Thursday on radio station KNBR in San Francisco. “Obviously, we want to see him progress through the week, but we had confidence that Christian would be ready, and he’s doing very well. He takes tremendous care of his body and takes so much pride in that, and he’ll be out there and ready to roll.”
McCaffrey, the league’s leading rusher in 2023, suffered the injury in early August, but the team said it was a calf injury. The addition of Achilles designation adds a new element to McCaffrey’s health and brings back unwanted memories for 49ers’ fans. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw reportedly played with an Achilles strain during the 2023 season before tearing it while running onto the field during Super Bowl 58.