SANTA CLARA — Running back Christian McCaffrey’s Achilles was added to the 49ers’ first official injury report Thursday, but he is fully expected to play in Monday night’s opener against the New York Jets.
“Christian is doing great. We have to finish this week but he looks like Christian, and that’s a good thing for us,” general manager John Lynch said Friday morning on KNBR 680-AM. “Obviously we want to see him progress through the week. We had confidence he’d be ready. He’s doing well. He takes pride in his body.
“He’ll be out there and ready to go.”
McCaffrey is the NFL’s reigning rushing champion and AP Offensive Player of the Year as he enters his second full season with the 49ers. An eighth-year pro out of Stanford, he exited the 49ers’ penultimate game last regular season with a calf issue and stayed out of the ensuing game with most other starters as a precaution for their ensuing Super Bowl run.
A year ago, the Jets lost Rodgers four plays into their season when he ruptured an Achilles tendon on a Leonard Floyd sack. Rodgers will make his return Monday night. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw will not, however, as he will sit out at least the first month recovering from his Achilles tear in the Super Bowl.
McCaffrey did not take part in voluntary workouts in the spring, and he showed up for June’s mandatory minicamp after signing a two-year, $38 million extension.
Frank Gore, the 49ers’ all-time leading rusher, said McCaffrey should dictate his workload Monday night. Gore is now a 49ers personnel advisor and he will be honored at the game for his induction into the 49ers’ Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. Hall of Fame
“We have to let him decide that,” Gore said on KNBR of McCaffrey’s workload. “One thing I know about McCaffrey, even when he said he could have played two weeks ago, the way he attacked the offseason, he attacked it the right way. He has to decide, let him trust it how he wants to. He’s getting older at the position but the way attacks the offseason and practices and the way he prepares himself, he should be fine.
“Let him decide how he wants to run the rock.”
The 49ers’ depth behind McCaffrey is a bit of a mystery, other than Jordan Mason established himself as the No. 2 back after a strong preseason and training camp.
Elijah Mitchell, the primary backup upon the 49ers’ 2022 midseason trade for McCaffrey, will not play this season after aggravating a hamstring injury in training camp. Rookie Isaac Guerendo has been limited to individual conditioning since straining his groin two weeks ago, leaving only Patrick Taylor Jr. as the only other true running back. Ke’Shawn Vaughn is on the practice squad and could get summoned if Guerendo is inactivated.
PEARSALL’S PROGNOSIS
Wide receiver Ricky Pearsall is making such a remarkable recovery from Saturday’s bullet wound to his chest that he’s definitely in the 49ers’ plans his rookie season.
“Absolutely he’s going to play this year,” Lynch said. “We’re going to give him the time to do it when right for him and that’s physically, mentally and emotionally. But he’s doing well.”
Pearsall was hospitalized only one night after being shot in an attempted robbery in San Francisco’s Union Square. The 49ers subsequently put him on the reserve/non-football-injury list, thus ruling him out at least four games. On Thursday, Pearsall watched practice in cleats and spun a football in his hands, to which Lynch said: “Three days ago, it wasn’t like that. He was holding it like he was immobile on the right side of the body. He’s come along quick and it’s a miraculous outcome.”
Pearsall has yet to speak publicly on the incident, and although he’s shared his story with some teammates, Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan have stressed to others not to make Pearsall constantly relive that trauma. Lynch noted that the 49ers have counseling services available for Pearsall, adding: “That’s a personal thing for Ricky, how much he wants to do and when he wants to do it. The greatest thing is this football family. He has his own nuclear family but he has an extended family here. We can be here for when he wants to share things.”
