On Wednesday Kyle Shanahan shared that the entire game plan will be open to Christian McCaffrey on Sunday when the 49ers face the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in Week 8.
After arriving in Santa Clara last Friday, McCaffrey had slightly more than 48 hours to prepare for his first game as a member of the 49ers. The All-Pro running back had approximately 20 plays under his belt and was on the field for 22 snaps, most of them coming in the first half of San Francisco's 44-23 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
With the Carolina Panthers, McCaffrey was on the field for 80-85 percent of their offensive snaps. With the 49ers, there have been no concrete decisions regarding how much the newest addition will see the field, and Shanahan explained why.
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“It’s something that you feel out once you get to know people,” Shanahan said. “You get to know your team, you get to know your player, you get to know the backups. You just get familiar with people.
“I never go in with anybody I don’t know and give them numbers or a stat or anything. I try to get to know the athlete and how they play throughout a game and how we use them and how you balance people out and that’s usually how we do it.”
From an outsider's perspective, it would appear that Shanahan has to be increasingly creative when it comes to scheming up the plan for the Rams, but the head coach said it’s much simpler than that.
Neither the Rams nor the 49ers have changed their schemes in several years which makes the contest more about who makes the least amount of mistakes and whether or not they are taken advantage of.
San Francisco 49ers
“You try your hardest to get good players the ball in space,” Shanahan said. “And you see what they do with it and it’s a pretty simple game with both sides. We know each other well, and it usually comes to physicality in the game, who turns it over the least and who makes one more play than the other.”
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While the schemes stay the same, the players on the field do not and this week Shanahan has an added weapon in his arsenal. The game plan doesn’t rest in the hands of McCaffrey but that is not to say there won’t be plays that will feature his skill set.
“When you add someone like Christian it’s always a lot more fun,” Shanahan said.