There are clear ways the return of running back Christian McCaffrey will help the San Francisco 49ers.
They’ve been one of the most efficient offenses in the NFL through eight weeks. They’re No. 2 in the league in yards per play and No. 2 in percentage of drives that end in a score. Despite that, they’re No. 8 in total scoring because they’ve struggled to find the end zone.
McCaffrey’s return should help them dramatically in that area. However, they’ll have to be judicious in the way they deploy the reigning Offensive Player of the Year. That’s where USA TODAY’s Nate Davis offered an interesting idea for how the 49ers can use McCaffrey.
In his weekly power rankings, Davis called for something of a position change for McCaffrey:
If Christian McCaffrey and his Achilles issues are indeed on the other side of this week’s bye, you wonder if the Niners should maybe deploy him more heavily in the slot to bolster a weakened receiver corps and let RBs Jordan Mason and Isaac Guerendo continue doing their spectacular work out of the backfield.
This is an interesting idea!
McCaffrey’s Achilles tendinitis will require a little bit of management from the 49ers, meaning they’re unlikely to be able to lean on him for 21-plus touches per game like they did last year.
Using McCaffrey as a receiver isn’t a novel idea. He lined up in the slot or out wide on 17.7 percent of his snaps last season, and averaged 11.1 snaps at those two spots per game.
Perhaps if the 49ers want to lighten McCaffrey’s overall workload without removing him from the field, they can utilize him as a receiver on something closer to 30 percent of his snaps. From there they can sprinkle in Mason and Guerendo to ensure they’re getting touches for the other players in their backfield as well.
At the same time, they’d be taking some of the onus off of WRs Chris Conley, Ricky Pearsall, Jacob Cowing and Ronnie Bell to be playmakers in the passing game.
Don’t be surprised if the 49ers utilize some form of this strategy once McCaffrey returns. It may not be a 30 percent snap rate at receiver, but we can expect an uptick in his playing time at that spot as the club tries to ensure they’re keeping him as healthy as possible to try and make a playoff run.
