The first time Christian McCaffrey cut upfield at 49ers minicamp, you could almost hear the collective sigh of relief from the sidelines. After a 2024 season that saw him sidelined by Achilles and PCL issues, no one knew what to expect. But there he was—helmet on, full speed, no brace, no hesitation. “I feel great,” he said with a grin. For a guy who spent months rehabbing from scratch, that wasn’t just talk—it was a statement.

But it wasn’t just his words that stood out; it was the way he moved. Every drill, every rep, he attacked like doing everything imaginable every single day. Coach Kyle Shanahan called McCaffrey a “psycho in a good way,” and GM John Lynch praised his “maniacal work ethic” during OTAs and minicamp. Still, old injury habits don’t disappear overnight, and CMC’s body has taken a beating over the years. Ankle, calf, Achilles—you name it.

So now the big question isn’t whether he’s ready. It’s whether that body holds up come January. But Mark Schlereth dropped a pretty interesting perspective on that. Schlereth, who has known the McCaffreys for years and Christian… well, since he was born, just shed light on McCaffrey’s injury and pointed out something that most people missed, mostly a pattern of Christian’s injury.

“You know what’s interesting about Christian is that everything over the course of his career, every time he gets hurt, it’s some type of soft tissue,” Schlereth noted. And he’s not wrong. Last season? It was a PCL issue (Most PCL injuries, especially Grade 1 or 2 sprains, can be treated with rest, rehab, and strengthening). And as Schlereth explained, it wasn’t the kind of injury that needed major fixing.

“Now, this one was a PCL, which is your posterior cruciate ligament. So your ACL and your PCL cross inside your knee, and the PCL isn’t as important, so to speak. A lot of times, they don’t even repair those if something happens to them, right? So it is, and he just rehabbed. He didn’t have surgery. So, there have been these kind of quote-unquote soft tissue injuries.” Well, having that said, Mark mentioned that the 29-year-old running back has put a ton of work in rehabbing ahead of the 2o25 season.

And that means only one thing: we might see McCaffrey playing a full season this year. And to spice things up, the NFL legend believes that if the RB goes on to play the whole season, he might do something extraordinary. Like, winning the NFL East for the 49ers. “I’ll tell you what, if that dude can play all 17, cause I know what level he’ll play at, the weapon that he is, what he does in the passing game, what he does in the running game, if he can play all 17, I think the 49ers win the NFC West,” he added.

And the way things are shaping up, the RB might prove Schlereth right, given that he’s feeling great ahead of the 2025 season.

Christian McCaffrey shares some great news for the Niners

Christian McCaffrey had a good offseason last year. The RB inked a two-year extension worth $38 million through the 2027 season and remained the highest-paid RB. But what followed the extension wasn’t exactly glitter and touchdown. The 29-year-old first went down during the training camp with a calf and Achilles injury. The result? First, he missed the preseason and a few regular-season games.

Then he came back, and for a moment, it felt like McCaffery’s going to kick off his 2024 campaign where he left off the year before. But nah, fate had other plans. In his fourth game of the season, the running back suffered a PCL injury in his right knee and left the game in the first half, and did not return. And just like that, Christian McCaffrey wrapped up his 2024 season with just 348 scrimmage yards and zero TDs.

But this year feels different as he participated in the 49ers’ practice sessions. And as they’re preparing to wrap up the mandatory minicamp, the back had a brief chat with the media where he straight-up admitted that he feels great. “I think this offseason I spent a lot of time kind of building back a base, starting from scratch,” he said.

“So, a lot of it was rehab, and I wanted to put myself in a position where I didn’t miss a day of OTAs and I could practice, play football again, be healthy and not miss a day. And I did that, and now we can kind of kick back up the training again. But I feel great.” A career spanning eight seasons, McCaffrey had spent half of the seasons playing less than 10 games. And now, the way things are shaping up, we can expect him to return for a full season.