Through two weeks of the 2023 NFL season, 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey is the league leader in both rushing attempts and yards.
In San Francisco's 30-23 Week 2 victory over the Los Angeles Rams, McCaffrey rushed for 116 yards while being the only 49ers running back to log a carry in the game.
McCaffrey was unfazed when asked about his heavy workload to start the season and shared what he believes the sweet spot is for spreading touches throughout the 49ers' backfield.
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"I think it's all dependent on how the game is going'" McCaffrey said. "We had a lot of breaks last game. Sometimes that's just how it goes. There's going to be games too where Mitch [Elijah Mitchell] will get four or five carries in a row on multiple drives because he's playing well and feeling him, and I'll be out. So it's really such a situational thing that, you know, I don't think it's ever a plan for one of us to get all the carries or not. It's just sometimes that's how some of the games go."
In response to a question about whether running backs coach Bobby Turner is pushing him to take a rest, given the substantial volume of snaps he has had to start the season, McCaffrey reiterated it's a case-by-case basis.
"It's really just a flow thing and how the game is going'" McCaffrey said. "Certain plays you have to be in and certain plays you know maybe you need a rest, but like I mentioned earlier, we had a lot of time off, we were sitting down a lot because their offense was on the field for a long time kind of trying to take down a lot of that clock. Then quarter happened, so my rest came at convenient times, too. I don't know if every game is going to be like that. I think it's really dependent on how the flow of the game is going."
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If McCaffrey's volume were to continue at this pace for the remainder of the season, he would finish the year with 357 carries.
That would shatter his previous career high of 287 carries, which he recorded in 2019 with the Carolina Panthers.
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