San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey is on the doorstep of some of the rarest company in all of football
If San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey can do it again, he’ll join one of the rarest clubs in the history of football.
What San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey is doing right now is beyond words. Two of the last three seasons have seen him surpass 2,000 yards from scrimmage. He’s led the league in total touches twice, too. Heck, he posted 102 catches in 2025 — his most since 2019.
He’s now turned 30. Surely he can’t keep this up, can he? While I’ll certainly be betting the “under” on a hypothetical 99.5 receptions this season, I’m not sure I’m fully ready to resign McCaffrey to the fate Father Time has in store for him. And there’s an ageless wonder in Baltimore to thank for that.
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey looking to join Derrick Henry among the NFL’s ageless wonders
Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry has been an unstoppable force. His run into his early 30s is arguably more impressive than McCaffrey’s because it hasn’t come with the injuries that have limited McCaffrey to 4, 7, and 3 games since 2020. Henry turned 30 in January of 2024 and promptly posted 2,114 yards from scrimmage that season. Only New York Giants running back Tiki Barber posted better seasons into his 30s. Barber logged 2,390 and 2,127 yards from scrimmage in 2005 and 2006.
Per Stat Muse, Priest Holmes and Walter Payton are the only two other running backs to go north of 2,000 yards from scrimmage at 30 years of age or older.
So here it is for McCaffrey. Simply doing what he’s done in each of his last two healthy seasons in the NFL will put him in some of the most elite company in all of football. The list of ageless wonders at running back is longer than the four names we’ve mentioned. But that is truly a special feat — one that shouldn’t be taken for granted just because we saw Henry achieve it in 2024. Barber’s age 31 season was the most recent time it’s been done before that in 2026. So let’s see McCaffrey run it back one more time. He’ll have his work cut out for him after a wide receiver overhaul in San Francisco this offseason. But I still wouldn’t bet against him.
San Francisco 49ers News