Christian McCaffrey is among the San Francisco 49ers’ staggering number of injuries as the 2026 NFL season inches closer, and his continued absence from practice is starting to worry the NFL community.
NFL World Ready To Hit ‘Panic Button’ on Christian McCaffrey’s Injury
As many as 20 San Francisco players have missed practice at one point during the training camp. However, McCaffrey remains the biggest concern after he was ruled out of Sunday’s practice again while dealing with what the team has described as “tightness.” He has not practiced since August 10.
Many believe that the 49ers are downplaying the situation. But with Week 1 only a few weeks away, fans are starting to get nervous about the star running back’s lack of practice time.
Coach Yac, who covers the 49ers, wrote, “Does he need to practice? No. Is it a little concerning he’s not getting much practice in due to tightness? Yes.”
Sports doctor Jesse Morse posted, “Christian McCaffrey… still not practicing. Week 1 for the 49ers is 3 weeks from this upcoming Thursday… in Australia. I’m not SUPER worried yet but it’s growing warmer.”
One post by SleeperNFL said, “We’re running out of days until the season opener for him to get re-acclimated.”
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One fan said on X, “I’m hitting the panic button here. It’s likely calf tightness and they’re refusing to specify that.”
Another commented, “Dang, I’ma probably avoid drafting him this year in fantasy then.”
One more fan shared the famous Michael Jordan graphic, with the text: “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
Earlier in the week, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked if McCaffrey’s absence was worrying.
“No,” Shanahan told reporters. “My concern would be him toughing through tightness, like a lot of people do, and then hurting something bad, and then pulling something, which then, it could be a month.”
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Offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak also said McCaffrey’s absence was part of the team “just managing” his workload. “Christian always kind of has his rep count in any camp,” Kubiak said. “But in terms of his rep load, we’re right on track with where we want to be.”
However, the concern around McCaffrey is not coming out of nowhere. The 49ers’ running back endured an injury-plagued 2024 season. Bilateral Achilles tendinitis kept him out of the first eight games before a right knee PCL injury ended his season with five games remaining.
McCaffrey also dealt with a calf strain late in the 2023 season. He returned to practice before the playoffs after suffering the injury in Week 17. That recent history makes the current “tightness” situation worth monitoring, even though the 49ers insist there is no reason to panic.
McCaffrey bounced back from the injury problems to play all 17 games in 2025, rushing for 1,202 yards and 10 touchdowns while adding 924 receiving yards and seven receiving touchdowns. The 49ers RB was third in PFN’s RB Impact Rankings last season with an overall impact score of 86.2.
The 49ers are taking a cautious approach with their veteran star. But with the season opener getting closer, every missed practice is likely to bring more questions about whether McCaffrey will be fully ready for Week 1.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.