The San Francisco 49ers will be without Christian McCaffrey for at least two more games and, according to one NFL insider, the reigning Offensive Player of the Year will likely miss several more.

McCaffrey is on injured reserve with Achilles tendinitis and has not played this season.

The star running back recently traveled to Germany for treatment on the injury. Though head coach Kyle Shanahan said the 49ers are looking to start ramping things up with McCaffrey on Monday with a view to getting him back on the field, that does mean he will be ready to make his return in Week 6.

NFL Media's Ian Rapoport provided an update on McCaffrey on 'NFL Gameday' on Sunday.

Rapoport said:

"Christian McCaffrey was in the news this week. No, not gonna play today. It's gonna be Jordan Mason once again. But McCaffrey traveled to Germany to get treatment on his Achilles injury, dealing with Achilles tendinitis, still on injured reserve. It was similar to a PRP [platelet-rich plasma] treatment. My understanding, now that he is back in the United States, it seemed like the treatment went well. There is a chance he could run on hard ground, grass basically, this week, which would be a step forward. For those worried about McCaffrey not playing at all this year, my understanding is the 49ers are not rushing him, but they do expect him back at least by early November. That is a good sign for McCaffrey."

The 49ers have a bye the first weekend in November before traveling to Florida to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 10 on November 10.

San Francisco would obviously much rather have McCaffrey back as soon as possible. The worst thing they could do, though, would be to rush him back and have him aggravate the injury. With the run game continuing to perform at a high level, the 49ers have little need to do that.

The wisest course of action for the 49ers would be to get to the bye still firmly in the mix in the NFC and then bring McCaffrey back for a difficult road game in Tampa in which the easy buttons he can provide in the pass game would be especially useful.

It has been a frustrating 2024 for McCaffrey and he will be desperate to get back as soon as possible. For the long-term prospects of both McCaffrey and the 49ers, patience is the best policy.

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