Niners Nation
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked where running back Christian McCaffrey ranks as far as route runners he’s coached throughout his career. Shanahan’s answer was succinct and to the point: “The best.” When asked a follow-up whether McCaffrey was far away the best, Shanahan said, “Yes. Yep, definitely.”
Through two weeks, McCaffrey has lined up in the slot 16 times. That’s double the number of snaps in the slot as the fifth-placed running back. McCaffrey is currently tied with Bijan Robinson for the most receiving yards in the NFL with 125. Robinson has a 50-yarder under his belt, whereas McCaffrey’s longest is 25 yards.
General manager John Lynch chimed in, calling McCaffrey a “matchup nightmare” for people:
I thought Pete Warner on that comeback he [McCaffrey] caught did about as well as he could. They’ve gotten so creative with these motions, these bump motions out of the backfield. Christian can line up all over the field. He can put you in some really conflict, you konw, people play these quarters. Well, when people play these quarters, the linebackers are responsible for the running backs. That’s a tough ask when you’re in man-to-man.
You have to cover now these running backs out of the backfield who run these rails and deep. But all of a sudden, you overplay the deep route, and here comes the comeback, and a guy who can run those routes and make it look like a receiver. We do a lot of work on that, and timing, and you saw it to perfection.
A player like that, Christian, I think he had a fantastic game. You look at the stat sheet after. It wasn’t as big, but I think he’s really close to busting out on these explosives. He’s playing at such a high level. He’s such a good football player in every facet. It’s going to be such an asset to see him round into form this year.
Lynch said the 49ers analytics team told him that McCaffrey had his best game as a Niner when referencing different metrics, like Yards over Expected, for example. McCaffrey had the highest success rate of his career in Week 2, but actually gained more yards over expectation in Week 1 than Week 2, per Next Gen Stats
The question came after Lynch was asked whether he viewed McCaffrey as the same big-play threat that he’s been in years past. Lynch believes the more explosive plays the offense can generate in the passing game will lead to fewer eyeballs focusing on McCaffrey.
