First, Christian McCaffrey’s standout performance against the Los Angeles Rams had Rich Eisen wondering when—not if—the running back would earn Hall of Fame status. And now, after a dominant 28-6 win over the Cleveland Browns, the 29-year-old running back has sparked the debate again. This time, it was Dan Patrick and 49ers legend Steve Young adding fuel to the conversation.

“Roger Craig was the first guy that I can remember who kind of took the role of running back and then expanded it. And that’s what Christian now in the game today,” Young told Dan Patrick when asked if McCaffrey was already a Hall of Famer. “The Hall of Fame is about people who change the game, and when you write the book, you can’t write the book without their name in it.

“And you can’t write the book about the game today and running back without Christian McCaffrey,” he said on The Dan Patrick Show

Young’s point: McCaffrey isn’t just productive; he is changing how offenses use backs in the modern era.

A lot of that hype is backed by numbers: he is a three-time Pro Bowler, two-time first-team All-Pro, and the 2023 NFL Offensive Player of the Year.

However, the Hall of Fame checklist requires volume, longevity, and, unfortunately,  injuries have complicated the “volume” part. McCaffrey missed large chunks of 2022-24 and had fewer career scrimmage yards (10,863) than Roger Craig (13,100), LeSean McCoy (15,000), and Tiki Barber (15,632). None of those players is in the Hall of Fame yet, though Barber had once been a finalist.

It goes without saying that McCaffrey needed to make an impressive comeback.

He will likely need more than 5,000 yards from scrimmage and score at least another 20 touchdowns over the next three or four seasons. That’s a steep ask for a back who turns 30 next June. Yet, the way he has played this season is making that ask less impossible.

In the 2025 season, he leads the NFL in scrimmage yards (1,439), is tied for second in total touchdowns (11), and is the only player with at least 700 rushing and 700 receiving yards. He has ten games with at least five receptions and 100 scrimmage yards this season, the most in the league.

That’s huge considering how running backs usually retire by age 27. The ones that stick around experience a sharp decline by 29.

Plus, he has also been the reason the 49ers sit in playoff contention. With QB Brock Purdy struggling at times, San Francisco has leaned on McCaffrey to create space, catch passes, and grind out tough yards. That’s something Rich Eisen acknowledged after the running back had the Rams on its heels.

Craig was another player who expanded what teams wanted out of their running back: run, catch, and create mismatches. He played for the team from 1983 to 1990 and, in the process, became the first player in league history to record 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season during his 1985 campaign.

His impact on the organization was undeniable. And McCaffrey is doing something similar.

Christian McCaffrey opens up about the legends who shaped his career

In many ways, McCaffrey is walking an updated version of Craig’s path: more route tree, more touches, more versatile in a spread, pass-heavy era. He said it himself.

“Huge impact. I’ve watched those guys [Craig and Frank Gore], seen highlights of Roger growing up, and then I watched Frank my whole life,” McCaffrey said last month. “Got a chance to even practice against him when he was in Buffalo for a little bit and pick his brain a little bit. Now it’s just seeing him on the practice field or the locker room every once in a while, being able to chop it up with him has been an honor.”

He frequently references his family’s football ethos as the reason he can handle the workload. And he pays respect where it’s due: Both Craig and Gore left templates for excellence and longevity that McCaffrey studies and attempts to mirror.

The midseason trade that sent McCaffrey to San Francisco looked risky to some teams at the time, but now it has proved to be beneficial for the 49ers.

Steve Young thinks it already “feels like it.” For now, Christian McCaffrey is giving the league very good reasons to agree.