Christian McCaffrey has not played a single game for the 49ers during the 2024 NFL season while recovering from Achilles tendonitis in both legs. However, the latest update on his injury indicates that his return is imminent.
San Francisco hopes to have its star running back on the field for next weekend’s Week 10 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers out of a bye week.
McCaffrey was placed on injured reserve on Sept. 14 and has not practiced since. The 28-year-old took a mysterious trip to Germany shortly thereafter, which offered some clarity on his injury. It is unclear as to whether he received any kind of treatment while overseas.
Once the 49ers open up his practice window, they will have 21 days to activate him to the active roster. If he is not activated in that window, he will be placed on IR for the remainder of the season.
Should the next few days go according to plan, McCaffrey’s practice window is going to open up sooner than later. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said on Tuesday that he hopes to finally get the reigning Offensive Player of the Year some live reps next week. There have not been any issues with his recovery thus far.
We hope it does go that way. It’s been trending that way, and it’s been ever since we shut him down and gone through these real slow steps. It’s getting there. He hasn’t had a setback, and hopefully, he has a real good week, and we can get him into practice next week, which obviously would be huge for us.
— Kyle Shanahan
San Francisco is currently on a bye. Its next game is scheduled for Nov. 10 in Florida.
Although Christian McCaffrey might practice next week, his status for an actual game is unclear. Perhaps he will be ready to face the Bucs. Maybe Shanahan and the medical staff will choose to keep him out for another week if he is not up to full speed.
Either way, it sounds like McCaffrey’s practice window is going to open on Monday of Week 10. Should that be the case, his 21-day window would close on Nov. 25. That would give him three games to return: against Tampa Bay, Seattle and Green Bay.