It’s going to be another lost season for Christian McCaffrey, but he is not the only San Francisco running back who suffered an injury on Sunday night.
Via multiple reporters, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said on Monday that McCaffrey will be placed on injured reserve with a PCL injury in his right knee. While McCaffrey will not need surgery to correct the issue, the running back’s recovery timeline is six weeks. That would sideline McCaffrey for the rest of the regular season.
But Jordan Mason also suffered a high-ankle sprain and will be placed on IR.
That puts rookie Isaac Guerendo in line to be the 49ers’ top back entering Week 14.
McCaffrey, 28, played 33 regular-season games plus six postseason contests over the 2022 and 2023 seasons after appearing in just 10 games from 2020-2021. But this year, McCaffrey has once again been played by injury woes.
He missed the first eight games of the 2024 season with bilateral Achilles tendinitis. He suffered his knee injury during the second quarter of Sunday’s snowy loss to Buffalo. After winning AP offensive player of the year in 2023, McCaffrey will finish 2024 with 202 yards rushing along with 15 catches for 146 yards in four games.
Mason is San Francisco’s leading rusher this year, picking up 789 yards with three touchdowns and averaging 5.2 yards per carry. He’s caught 11 passes for 91 yards.
Guerendo has taken 42 carries in 12 games for 246 yards with two touchdowns and caught five passes for 19 yards.
Defensive tackle Kevin Givens also suffered a torn pectoral muscle in Sunday’s contest and will be placed on IR.
Additionally, the team plans to open Talanoa Hufanga’s practice window as he returns from IR. The team will monitor several players — including Nick Bosa (oblique) and Dre Greenlaw (Achilles) — throughout the week as the club prepares to play Chicago in Week 14.
