Christian McCaffrey has been a nightmare for opposing defenses his entire NFL career, and that rang especially true when he became the 49ers' starting running back midway through the 2022 season.
The All-Pro helped take San Francisco's offense to a new level when he arrived before Week 7 via trade, and 49ers run game coordinator/offensive line coach Chris Foerster believes the team helped McCaffrey reach new heights of his own. Along the way, McCaffrey joined the ranks of running backs over the years to earn a coveted moniker from 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.
"[McCaffrey's] always looking for that edge. He’s always looking for, ‘What can I do to be just a little bit better?’ And he got here and didn’t realize that he’d never really been coached as much in how to run the ball as Kyle coached him," Foerster said Thursday during the 49ers 2023 State of the Franchise event. "He accepted that coaching and got better as the year went on, and he brings everybody else up.
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"We have this saying -- Kyle came up with it in Washington -- a guy that always seems to find the right hole, we ended up nicknaming this guy 'Drano' because he always finds the drain, you know? Christian does it, but he does it with elite athleticism, elite speed and everything else -- toughness, physicality ... He always finds it, and he does it with a shiftiness and elusiveness."
If that nickname sounds familiar, it's because it is.
Both Shanahan and general manager John Lynch also have called 49ers running back Elijah Mitchell "Drano" in the past, with San Francisco's coach most recently using the reference ahead of the team's NFC Championship Game appearance.
"[Mitchell's] a violent runner. That's why we started calling him 'Drano,' because he always goes to the right hole," Shanahan told reporters back in January. "Then we also call him the 'Trash Man' because when he's out there, it sounds like trashcans are banging around in the alley.
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"He likes to run into people violently when he has nowhere to go, and that's what makes him a special back."
The 49ers are blessed with a bevy of talented ball carriers in their running backs room, with younger players like Ty Davis-Price and JP Mason learning and taking cues from Mitchell, McCaffrey and fullback Kyle Juszczyk. Foerster made it clear Thursday exactly how much they can learn from the latest addition to the "Drano" family.
"The minute McCaffrey showed up, you just realize what a consummate pro he is," Foerster said. "You see it this spring, he’s out there [at OTAs] when he doesn’t have to, going full speed, beating himself up when he’s not perfect in everything that he does.
"He just brought a level of whatever he needed to do to help this team, to get better. He worked as hard as he could at it."
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With an entire offseason of preparation soon to be under his belt as the 2023 NFL season approaches, McCaffrey could be even better in his first full campaign with San Francisco.
And if he was considered a nightmare before, the rest of the league might be in for an even ruder awakening this fall.