Nick WagonerSep 4, 2025, 08:29 PM ET
- Nick Wagoner is an NFL reporter at ESPN. Nick has covered the San Francisco 49ers since 2016, having previously covered the St. Louis Rams for 12 years, including three years (2013 to 2015) at ESPN. In over a decade with the company, Nick has led ESPN's coverage of the Niners' 2019 and 2023 Super Bowl run, Colin Kaepernick's protest, the Rams making Michael Sam the first openly gay player drafted to the NFL, Sam's subsequent pursuit of a roster spot and the team's relocation and stadium saga.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- After making it through training camp and the preseason with no apparent health issues and not even appearing on Wednesday's injury report, running back Christian McCaffrey was added to the list Thursday evening.
According to the Niners, McCaffrey is dealing with a calf issue and was a limited participant in Thursday's practice. McCaffrey was on the field and doing his usual warmup and individual drills during the roughly 20 minutes open to the media at the start of the practice.
But McCaffrey was not in the locker room after it was over and did not do his usual Thursday media session. The addition of McCaffrey to the injury report with a calf issue is particularly notable given what happened leading up to Week 1 of last season.
McCaffrey missed most of 2024 training camp while dealing with what the team initially termed a calf injury but later clarified to be bilateral Achilles tendinitis. Heading into last year's season opener against the New York Jets, McCaffrey was listed a limited participant in practice during the week and then listed as questionable for the game.
Not only did McCaffrey not play against the Jets, but he then missed the team's next seven games after landing on injured reserve before the Week 2 meeting with the Minnesota Vikings. After a lengthy recovery that included a trip to Germany to see a specialist, McCaffrey finally returned on Nov. 10 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and appeared in four games before suffering a torn posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee against the Buffalo Bills in Week 13.
After missing the rest of the season with that knee injury, McCaffrey was back on the field for all of the team's offseason program and then throughout this year's training camp.
Similar to what they did in 2023, the Niners limited McCaffrey's workload during training camp, giving him an extra day off to begin each stretch of three practices.
"Just trust the plan," McCaffrey said on July 27. "They've written up a really good plan. Just trust it and do everything I can every day to get better."
On Wednesday, coach Kyle Shanahan was asked if there was a moment in the offseason when he realized McCaffrey was "all the way back."
"I knew Christian was back just once he told me he was healthy," Shanahan said. "It's not like we were thinking he wouldn't come back from it. You know, you hope that stuff, the arthritis and everything, goes away. Which it usually does. He was telling us that early in the offseason, so I felt pretty good about it. Christian's not a liar. So, I didn't think he was. Then we saw him early in OTAs, he looked like the guy we've always known and he's continued that."
Niners tight end George Kittle, who has a locker next to McCaffrey, was asked Thursday if he could sense how eager McCaffrey was to get back in the mix after playing just four games in 2024.
"He seems very excited," Kittle said. "He's been excited since OTAs. He's been excited since the season ended. So yes, I'm very, very much looking forward to being able to block for him and run routes next to him again."
