Programming Note: Watch "49ers Training Camp Live" with Matt Maiocco and Jennifer Lee Chan at 3 p.m. PT today from Santa Clara, streaming live on the NBC Sports app. Watch the show later on YouTube and Facebook.
Superstar 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey is dedicated to the NFL grind.
Despite being sidelined with a minor calf strain, McCaffrey surely is doing everything in his power to return to the gridiron as soon as possible.
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San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan, in particular, is all too familiar with -- and fond of -- the reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year’s work ethic. And while speaking to reporters after 49ers practice Tuesday, the coach made a hilarious comparison to emphasize just how dialed in McCaffrey is.
“That’s what’s good when you’re that obsessive about everything,” Shanahan said about McCaffrey. “I mean, when you’re hurt, you’re hurt -- you can’t go. But when you take every rep, every walk-through and everything you do and you’re so deliberate… He was probably walking down the aisle to get married thinking about his feet and how to do routes.
“No offense to Oliva, but he is obsessed with [football]. So when you do get in these situations, where you do get hurt and you can’t go do all that stuff, at least he has put the work in before; that stuff does come back fast.”
"Walking down the aisle to get married, he's probably thinking about his feet and how to do routes. No offense to Olivia."
— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) August 20, 2024
Shanahan on CMC's "obsessive" football mind 😂 pic.twitter.com/VSdoDdE4Gl
San Francisco 49ers
McCaffrey tied the knot with his girlfriend since 2019, Olivia Culpo, at a captivating gathering in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, in late June.
Plenty of 49ers players and coaches, including party animal George Kittle, were in attendance; so Shanahan’s comment about McCaffrey having football on the brain while walking down the aisle might not be too far off.
After all, there is some truth to every joke, right?
Regardless, Shanahan believes the face of his electric offense soon will return, acknowledging what separates McCaffrey’s preparation from the rest of the NFL.
“He understands what it takes to play in this game, especially at the level he does,” Shanahan added about McCaffrey’s effort. “Not many people play at the level unless they are like that.”
McCaffrey, after finishing the 2023 NFL season with 272 carries for a league-high 1,459 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns, should be ready to push for a Super Bowl return with San Francisco in 2024.
McCaffrey's 49ers teammates aren’t sweating his absence one bit.