The San Francisco 49ers are in a difficult place in regard to healthy depth. The Niners had seen several players miss time for injury over untimely injuries. There's never a good time to be injured, but there certainly are bad times. Among the worst moments to be injured are before the season starts, without full football gear on and when several others are falling prey to injury to decimate depth. The Niners hit the trifecta in that regard. One player missing time is star running back Christian McCaffrey. And while some believe his absence is contract-related, we saw some clarity on why he's really been missing from practice. ESPN NFL analyst Nick Wagoner recorded on social media head coach Kyle Shanahan's thoughts about McCaffrey's absence. Shanahan made it clear it was not about contract negotiations. He added, "I think if it wasn't Christian and we were in a game week, I think he would play today." Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk helped explain why McCaffrey is out and what his absence means for the team. Here's some of what Simmons had to say. "McCaffrey, who turned 30 in June, has been out of practice while dealing with tightness. The 49ers have not specified where the tightness is occurring. But with McCaffrey’s injury history and his production from last season, it makes sense that the running back has been held out of practice at this point of the preseason. McCaffrey registered a career-high 413 touches in 17 regular-season games last season, a figure that also led the league. He then had 37 more in the club’s two postseason games."
#49ers HC Kyle Shanahan's answers on RB Christian McCaffrey's status: (On whether there's a contract-related issue) "I think they make a lot of assumptions and that would be one that they're wrong on." (On CMC returning to practice) "I think if it wasn't Christian and we were… — Nick Wagoner (@nwagoner) August 18, 2026 Caution is sometimes viewed with skepticism outside of an NFL organization, but the Niners are likely making the right call by allowing McCaffrey to get back to full health. Given injuries to the likes of Mike Evans at receiver and the delayed return of tight end George Kittle, McCaffrey is a player the 49ers can ill afford to lose. The Niners started camp off to a rough start on the injury front, but have since seen their back luck level out. Others have not been so fortunate. The most important objective of the preseason should be simple: Get to the regular season as healthy as possible. Everything else should come secondary to that objective, and the 49ers are aware of it. McCaffrey and company will hope to be ready when the season kicks off in Australia against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 1.