San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey is known for carrying a heavy workload and rarely leaving the field — an approach that one former teammate recently called “selfish.”
On a recent episode of the “Raw Room” podcast, former NFL running back Mike Davis, a teammate of McCaffrey’s on the Carolina Panthers from 2019-21, wondered why he was even signed in November 2019.
“I was like, damn, why the (bleep) did the Panthers pick me?” Davis asked. “They’ve got CMac. This (bleep) doesn’t even come out the game. I get up there, he in the training room and, he has a bruise on his foot, so I’m thinking to myself, like, oh (bleep), I might be playing this week. Do you think I played that week? Nope. Damn, that (bleep) played the whole game. I have never seen anybody play as much as CMac. He going to play every down. I’m not going to lie to you. I thought it was selfish as hell. I thought it was so selfish.”
Davis recalled one time when exhaustion got the best of McCaffrey.
“Have you ever seen a (bleep) get the ball six times in a row?” Davis said. “Yeah, you’re tired. I’m tired after four carries in a row. I watched this man get the ball and just lay on a (bleep). Come on, bro.”
McCaffrey’s 2019 season backs up Davis’s observations about his workload. That year, McCaffrey led the league in touches from scrimmage with 403, rushing 287 times for 1,397 yards and eight touchdowns while catching 116 passes for 1,005 yards and four touchdowns. He became just the third player in NFL history to record 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season (Roger Craig in 1985 and Marshall Faulk in 1999).
The heavy usage may have taken its toll the following year. In 2020, McCaffrey played in only three games due to injuries, missing most of the season with ankle and shoulder problems. Since being traded to the San Francisco in October 2022, McCaffrey has continued to be a workhorse who has dealt with injuries, but the 49ers have been more cautious about managing his workload to try and keep him healthy for playoff runs.
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Chris Franklin may be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com.
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