The San Francisco 49ers in Week 13 made a significant change to how they’re managing the health of one of their superstars.
Running back Christian McCaffrey was out of Wednesday’s practice for his typical veteran rest day. That’s been his pattern throughout the season with a return to a full participation in Thursday’s session. They bucked that trend ahead of Week 13 by giving McCaffrey a second day off Thursday.
Given McCaffrey’s injury issues last season, any extra missed practices are notable. However, the team didn’t add any injury designation and still listed his absence as “non injury related.”
It may be that the quick turnaround from Monday night to a Sunday kickoff at 10:00am Pacific Time in Cleveland played a role in his extra day off. He also racked up 31 touches Monday night and earned an extra day off.
Interestingly, the club didn’t change left tackle Trent Williams’ practice schedule. He was back as a full participant Thursday after getting his usual rest day Wednesday.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan will speak with reporters after Friday’s practice. At that point we may get specifics on the change in McCaffrey’s schedule and whether it’s a permanent switch to how the team manages his usage during the week.
Here’s the full participation report from Thursday:
Did not participate
- LB Tatum Bethune (ankle)
- RB Christian McCaffrey (not injury related – resting player)
- DE Sam Okuayinonu (ankle)
- K Eddy Pineiro (hamstring)
Limited participation
- LB Luke Gifford (hip, calf)
Full participation
- DE Robert Beal (concussion)
- WR Ricky Pearsall (knee)
- RG Dominick Puni (shoulder)
- QB Brock Purdy (toe)
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