Christian McCaffrey's 2024 season debut will have to wait at least another week, and a stint on injured reserve is not out of the question.
The San Francisco 49ers have ruled McCaffrey out for their Week 2 game at the Minnesota Vikings while he continues to work his way back from calf and Achilles tendon injuries.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan added that McCaffrey had his worst day Thursday in terms of pain, and putting the star running back on injured reserve is now under consideration.
McCaffrey was a surprise inactive in the 49ers' Week 1 win over the Jets, giving way to Jordan Mason, who ran for a career-high 147 yards on 28 carries. Mason would figure to get the lion's share of the work again this week against the Vikings, who held the New York Giants to 74 rushing yards on 21 carries last week.
The third-year RB did raise some eyebrows in another way after his breakout performance when he said postgame that he found out he'd get the start two days before -- despite CMC drawing a questionable designation three days prior -- although the NFL has since evaluated the matter and found San Francisco to have done nothing wrong.
"We have looked into the 49ers' reporting of the playing status of Christian McCaffrey for the team's Monday night game against the New York Jets," the league said in a statement obtained by NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero. "We have found no evidence of a violation of the league's Injury Report Policy in this matter."
Asked earlier this week about missing the opener, McCaffrey explained that his mentality is that he always wants to play, but there are times when his body doesn't respond appropriately.
"Mentally, I'm always prepared to play, and then I woke up and it was a group decision, a very tough one," he said earlier this week. "I hate not playing but I look at it as a chess move and something that hopefully you can benefit from the rest of the season."
This will be the first time McCaffrey has missed multiple games in a season since 2021 after playing 17 and 16 regular-season games the past two seasons. Durability questions were raised about McCaffrey in 2020 and 2021 when he missed all but 10 games for the Carolina Panthers over that two-year span, dealing with ankle injuries.
This will be the third time in McCaffrey's career he's been unable to go against the Vikings, missing prior matchups against them in 2020 and 2021. In last season's loss to the Vikings, McCaffrey scored two touchdowns and totaled 96 yards from scrimmage on 18 touches but also averaged only 3.0 yards per carry and lost a fumble.
It remains to be seen if CMC heads to IR, which would mean he'd miss at least four contests.
