McCaffrey sits out practice with ‘tightness’ as the 49ers manage his workload

SNATA CLARA, Calif. (AP) 鈥� star running back Christian McCaffrey was held out of practice on Monday with what the team described as general tightness.

The 30-year-old McCaffrey had participated in every practice so far this summer for the 49ers as the team altered its schedule for training camp this year to eliminate stretches of three straight full practices.

Offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said McCaffrey was 鈥渄oing fine鈥� and the team was managing his workload.

鈥淐hristian always kind of has his rep count in any camp,鈥� offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said. 鈥淵ou guys are aware of the adjustments we鈥檝e made to our schedule to kind of keep them from having too many off days. But in terms of his rep load, we鈥檙e right on track where we want to be. He鈥檚 a veteran player, so you got to monitor him and get him ready for the first week.鈥�

San Francisco is hoping to find a to lighten his workload after he led the NFL with 413 touches from scrimmage in the 2025 regular season.

But the team has been short-handed at running back with the top three projected backups to McCaffrey also out with injuries. Rookie Kaelon Black has been sidelined by an adductor injury, second-year back Jordan James broke his ribs early in training camp and third-year player Isaac Guerendo has been sidelined by a torn pectoral muscle suffered earlier in the offseason.

Patrick Taylor Jr., Sincere McCormick and Khalil Herbert handled most of the load at running back on Monday.

鈥淚t sucks because you want those young guys out there who we drafted and who we want to see compete and want to see get better,鈥� Kubiak said. 鈥淭hose guys will get back out there. They鈥檙e not far away. But it鈥檚 given guys opportunities to get better, too.鈥�

The Niners did bring back earlier in training camp and he has been getting work as a running back as well.

鈥淲hen he has the ball in his hand, there鈥檚 nobody more explosive, more dynamic on the field,鈥� Kubiak said. 鈥淚n terms of managing his load, Deebo has got to be able to affect the game in a lot of ways. That鈥檚 our plan with him.鈥�

Defensive end Nick Bosa also was out, missing his fourth straight practice with what the team described as soreness. Bosa is working his way back after going down with a season-ending torn ACL in Week 3 last year.

Bosa had only participated in individual drills early in camp before being held out but coach Kyle Shanahan has said the team isn’t overly concerned about his status.

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