The thought when Christian McCaffrey arrived in San Francisco was that McCaffrey would lead the way in the backfield with any combination of players all in line behind him. That wasn’t the case Sunday night against the Chargers with RB Elijah Mitchell back in the lineup, and it sounds like the split RB role will continue moving forward.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Thursday after the 49ers’ practice in Colorado Springs said that while both Mitchell and McCaffrey can shoulder a full workload, both will continue to be heavily involved in the offense.
“I think both of them can handle the load and do it all and then I think because both of them are so good at it in that they both can run any type of run at a high level, they both can do the pass game,” Shanahan said in a post-practice press conference. “That allows them to be a lot fresher, because it’s not like we have a big strong opinion on it. Like, no Christian has to get this, Elijah has to get that. There’re definitely things that one you might give an edge to over the other in some things, but it’s almost splitting hair. So when it’s like that, it’s just a lot easier to rotate guys, because when guys are so drastically different or one’s a lot more successful at something than others, it’s hard to put them in when they don’t know what play you’re calling and when they got that skillset they can just roll them in, keep them fresh and I can request a guy if I need it, but it just makes everyone’s job a lot easier.”
McCaffey had 18 touches Sunday night, one fewer than Mitchell. The latter back was the more effective on the ground though with 89 yards on 18 carries. McCaffrey did play significantly more snaps though – 46 to Mitchell’s 25.
It was an intriguing conundrum for the 49ers when McCaffrey arrived since Mitchell was set to return and Jeff Wilson Jr. was playing well. Wilson getting traded to the Dolphins eliminated some of the question marks about running back playing time, but it’s now clear Sunday night wasn’t an aberration. McCaffrey and Mitchell are both going to be plenty involved every week.
