49ers news: Christian McCaffrey will miss at least a month after being placed on the IR

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the San Francisco 49ers are placing All-Pro Christian McCaffrey on the Injured Reserve due to his calf tightness and Achillies tendinitis. McCaffrey will miss the next four games at the very least before the team assesses where he’s at for a potential mid-October return.

On Friday, head coach Kyle Shanahan said McCaffrey doesn’t need a procedure and that they’d decide whether to place Christian on the IR within the next 24 hours. That was after saying Thursday was McCaffrey’s “worst day. It’s on and off, but with yesterday [Thursday] having the most pain, it’s something we’re going to be discussing.”

How will the carries be divided now that it’s confirmed McCaffrey will miss a month? Shanahan said each week is different and that a lot of things tie into those decisions. So, one week, it’ll be Deebo Samuel Sr. getting his 8-10 carries, but don’t count on that being something that happens routinely.

Shanahan spoke about his comfort level with the rest of the running backs behind McCaffrey. The depth chart, outside of Deebo, includes Jordan Mason, Isaac Guerendo, and Patrick Taylor Jr.:

“Good. Taylor had real good OTAs and training camp with us. Had a little setback when he did have an injury, but cameback and finished strong there that last week, that last preseason game. Guerendo, he missed so much time. But then when he got those two games, he was rolling. He looked good in those games, looked the same way in practice. It’s different to be down to your third guy already. But we never really looked at [RB] Elijah [Mitchell] or JP as two or threes. I think those guys are capable of being ones, as Elijah’s shown in the past. And so has JP. For those, the two new guys, when their opportunity comes, I believe they’re ready.”

Mason showed he was beyond capable of being an RB1. But that was one week. Now, he has a chance to show off his skills for at least a month.