{"id":1038265,"date":"2026-10-27T06:24:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T06:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1038265\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T06:24:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T06:24:59","slug":"49ers-christian-mccaffrey-has-hamstring-strain-can-he-return-week-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1038265\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers\u2019 Christian McCaffrey has hamstring strain. Can he return Week 9?"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Francisco 49ers<\/a> head coach Kyle Shanahan<\/a> said running back Christian McCaffrey<\/a> suffered a mild hamstring strain during Sunday\u2019s 29-20 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Shanahan is \u201cpretty optimistic\u201d McCaffrey will be available for the 49ers\u2019 Nov. 8 matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders, the team\u2019s next game following a Week 8 bye.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think so, with it just being\u201d a mild strain, Shanahan said Monday afternoon. \u201cNever know for sure, but we\u2019re pretty optimistic about it. So is he.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not long after totaling 69 yards and a touchdown Sunday on the 49ers\u2019 opening drive, McCaffrey was seen stretching on the sideline and pressing a massage gun to his left hamstring area. He then entered the blue tent for an extended period in the second quarter before jogging to the locker room.<\/p>\n

He reentered to start the second half but was significantly hampered, ending the afternoon with just 34 snaps, his second-lowest number of the season. After his explosive opening drive, McCaffrey recorded just 10 rushing yards and 21 receiving yards.<\/p>\n

Postgame, McCaffrey told reporters that his leg \u201cjust died\u201d on him. \u201cI was trying to get it going for the whole rest of the game, but it just sucks trying to play like that. But I know I\u2019ll be all right.\u201d<\/p>\n

No kicker change: Shanahan said the 49ers are not planning to try out any kickers during the bye week amid Eddy Pi\u00f1eiro\u2019s continued struggles to convert extra points.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been told that we are,\u201d Shanahan said. \u201cAs far as I\u2019ve heard, we don\u2019t have any plans on that right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pi\u00f1eiro is 21-for-25 on extra points this season. He has missed one of his three attempts in each of the past two games. On Sunday, Pi\u00f1eiro shanked an extra point in the fourth quarter that prevented the 49ers from cutting their deficit to five points. Because of that, when Atlanta converted a field goal to go up nine points in the final minute, the 49ers did not have an opportunity to string together a potential game-tying drive.<\/p>\n

After the 49ers\u2019 23-20 win over the Washington Commanders on Oct. 19, Shanahan said Pi\u00f1eiro has \u201cgot to make\u201d his extra points. When asked after that game if there was a level of concern with the trend, Shanahan said, \u201cI think everyone knows the answer to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about his extra-point struggles on Sunday, Pi\u00f1eiro said he will take the bye week to watch the tape, reassess and start over.<\/p>\n

Pi\u00f1eiro is 6-for-9 on field-goal attempts this season. All three of his misses have come on kicks of 50 yards or more. He is 2-for-5 on such attempts and 4-for-4 on all other kicks.<\/p>\n

Optimism on post-bye returns: While none of these are guaranteed, Shanahan said the following players \u201chave a chance\u201d to return after San Francisco\u2019s bye week: defensive end Nick Bosa<\/a> (calf\/knee), wide receivers Mike Evans<\/a> (Achilles), Deebo Samuel<\/a> (hamstring) and Demarcus Robinson (ankle), linebackers Luke Gifford (groin) and Garret Wallow (hamstring), safety Marques Sigle (ankle) and defensive tackle CJ West (knee). Shanahan also said the expectation is that nickel back Upton Stout, who has dealt with a shoulder injury all month and was only active on an emergency basis Sunday, will be full-go after the bye week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big week of rehab for all of them,\u201d Shanahan said, adding the 49ers will do some field work on Tuesday before taking the rest of the week off and returning Monday. \u201cWe\u2019ll see where they\u2019re at next week.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said running back Christian McCaffrey suffered a mild hamstring strain during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1038266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[220,223,254,2554,4124,224,7,6,9],"class_list":["post-1038265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-atlanta-falcons","tag-49ers","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-atlantafalcons","tag-christian-mccaffrey","tag-falcons","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117511449687165339","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1038265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1038266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1038265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1038265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1038265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}