Three-time Pro Bowler Christian McCaffrey is the reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year. The San Francisco 49ers have relied on the star working again for the reason that staff acquired him in a commerce in 2022.
His 339 touches led the NFL final season, however McCaffrey isn’t any stranger to dealing with the bodily toll that comes with being a high-usage participant. He has averaged at the least 19.4 touches per sport over the previous six seasons.
But the Madden 2024 cowl athlete may see a lighter workload in 2024.
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McCaffrey celebrated his twenty eighth birthday final month. During that very same month, the Niners rewarded him with a contract extension that might hold him with the franchise via the 2027 season.
Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers’ head coach, acknowledged McCaffrey’s significance to the staff and famous that defending the league’s highest-paid working again subsequent season will likely be a precedence.
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“We have guys that may run the ball,” Shanahan stated. “We have to guard Christian from himself. He does not prefer to ever come out, it doesn’t matter what the state of affairs is. And I do suppose that is one thing we may defend him with extra.”
Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers runs for a landing within the second quarter in opposition to the Kansas City Chiefs throughout the Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
McCaffrey was on the sector for 81% of the 49ers’ snaps final season. Shanahan and the teaching employees elected to have him sit out the 2023 regular-season finale as a result of the staff had already clinched the NFC’s high playoff seed.
Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers runs the ball within the second quarter in opposition to the Kansas City Chiefs throughout the Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
McCaffrey’s versatility has been a key a part of his success all through his NFL profession. He completed the 2019 season with the Carolina Panthers with a career-high 1,005 receiving yards. He had a career-best seven landing receptions in 2023.
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“When you’re such a menace within the go sport, it is just a little bit completely different,” Shanahan added. “But if he is simply taking the damage and tear with 20 carries and stuff each sport — and he is positively adequate to try this, and he has proved he can keep wholesome — however you’d prefer to take a few of that off of him and provides it to different guys additionally.”
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