Kyle Shanahan excited to get something the 49ers' offense has never really had
There's no doubt the San Francisco 49ers' 2022 midseason trade for Christian McCaffrey has been an unqualified success. Some eyebrows were raised when the Niners gave up four draft picks to land the running back in a deal with the Carolina Panthers. No doubters remain, with McCaffrey firmly established as the focal point of the […]
There's no doubt the San Francisco 49ers' 2022 midseason trade for Christian McCaffrey has been an unqualified success.
Some eyebrows were raised when the Niners gave up four draft picks to land the running back in a deal with the Carolina Panthers.
No doubters remain, with McCaffrey firmly established as the focal point of the NFL's most efficient offense by DVOA. He leads the NFL in rushing, is tied for the league lead in touchdowns (13) and has scored in 17 successive games across the regular season and postseason, an NFL record he shares with Lenny Moore and can claim outright if he scores on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
One thing the 49ers have not enjoyed much of since McCaffrey's arrival is the experience of having him and Deebo Samuel on the field at the same time.
The stress they put on defenses when the league's best receiving back and premier running wide receiver are each lined up in the San Francisco has been obvious when the Niners have had each player available.
Yet Samuel has too often been missing from the equation due to injury. Samuel was out for four of McCaffrey's 11 regular-season games. This year, after injuring his shoulder on the first play against the Cleveland Browns in Week 6, he has missed the last two games of the 49ers' three-game losing streak.
Without Samuel, and arguably more importantly All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams, the 49ers' offense has scored only 17 points in each of those defeats having scored at least 30 in each of their first five games.
That is in large part down to costly red zone turnovers, with the 49ers having no problem moving the ball in the last two games after some marked struggles when both McCaffrey and Samuel were off the field against Cleveland.
Samuel was a full participant in practice on Wednesday and appears primed to make his return and, though his offense hasn't struggled for efficiency in the wideout's absence, head coach Kyle Shanahan is understandably excited to potentially get his two most diverse playmakers firing on all cylinders.
“I think it’d be huge," Shanahan said when asked what it would mean to get both players going. "I don’t think we’ve really had that.
"Christian came in the middle of last year. Deebo was banged up throughout almost all last year and hasn’t really had his exact role or been healthy since the year prior to that.
I thought Deebo started out great this year with how healthy he was, how good he was playing, and then he got some bad injuries which have kind of set him back.
"I think he’s about ready to get back out there full and hopefully we can keep him that way.”
49ers-Jaguars broadcast map: Will you be able to watch on TV?
Most of the country will see it.
