SANTA CLARA — Christian McCaffrey’s lofty job title each week this season has been “NFL leading rusher.”
He has a healthy disdain, however for being pigeonholed into a specific role.
Before he made McCaffrey’s 49ers debut last year against Kansas City, his father, Ed, was on the sideline pregame recalling how his son objected being labeled a “running back” or a “receiver,” that he simply wanted to be seen as an all-encompassing football player when he began playing as a kid.
Reminded Thursday that some projected him as a “NFL slot receiver” coming out of Stanford, McCaffrey bristled at that memory. He also confirmed having a conversation with coach Kyle Shanahan, upon last year’s trade from Carolina, insisting he can handle a full-time load at running back.
“That’s probably part of my insecurities and competitiveness. I want to be a complete back, and I think this dates back to when I was in middle school and high school,” McCaffrey said. “There were coaches in the NFL who didn’t think I could run in between the tackles.
“I think for me, it will always be in the back of my head and something I take a lot of pride in is just being a complete back. When you go somewhere new, you don’t know what they’re thinking. I don’t if that was a validated conversation, but I felt like I needed to have it.”
McCaffrey leads the NFL with 939 rushing yards, 61 yards of becoming the 49ers’ first 1,000-yard rusher in a season since Frank Gore in 2014. He has a 154-yard lead over the Miami Dolphins’ Raheem Mostert, who’s scored a NFL-best 13 rushing touchdowns, two more than both McCaffrey and Eagles’ quarterback Jalen Hurts.
As for his receiving ability, McCaffrey’s 48 catches lead the 49ers, and they’ve gone for 389 yards and five touchdowns. The next-leading receivers: George Kittle (46 catches, 667 yards, five TDs), Brandon Aiyuk (45-881-5) and Deebo Samuel (34-474-1).
“I don’t really see any other running back in the NFL lining up in the slot and running double-move routes for touchdowns,” tight end George Kittle said. “He’s running comebacks, running our concepts, things like that. I don’t really see any other running backs doing that.
“You call him whatever you want to call him, but he’s one of a kind and he’s probably the best in the world of what he does.”
ARMSTEAD’S AVAILABILITY
As defensive tackle Arik Armstead fielded about 15 questions from reporters on the Eagles’ scheme and the 49ers’ defense, the more obvious it became that he plans to overcome a foot injury and play Sunday. Once he finally got asked about his availability, Armstead replied: “I’ll be out there Sunday.” He’s remained out of practice all week, however.
Armstead has not missed a start this season, after foot and ankle injuries sidelined eight games last season. He’s enjoying the best stretch of his career since 2019, producing 4 1/2 sacks and seven quarterback hits over the past four games.
Armstead noted that offensive lines are using extra blockers against the 49ers more this season, but that the Eagles haven’t shown much of that in their games this season. “Obviously they trust their offensive line with some amazing players on their offensive line. so it’s going to be a great test and battle for us,” Armstead said.
SPY TIME?
Assigning a defender to shadow, or spy, a mobile quarterback is a tactic defensive coordinator Steve Wilks will consider employing over not just this game but this month’s coming matchups. “Kyler Murray, Lamar Jackson, Jalen hurts, you better have someone allocate for him,” Wilks said. “At any given time, (Hurts) can use his feet to make something happen.” Likely candidates to follow Hurts are linebackers Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw, as well as safeties Tashaun Gipson Sr. and Ji’Ayir Brown.
KITTLE’S REFLECTIONS
Kittle didn’t hide his frustrations after last season’s NFC Championship Game loss in Philadelphia, and he said Thursday it took him only a week to move on from it. Now he’s echoing the locker room’s theme this week of claiming this return engagement is simply another game.
“You guys tend to make things a little bigger than they are,” Kittle told reporters. “It’s Week 13. Yes, it’s the Philadelphia Eagles. Yes, they’re the No. 1 seed. We’re fighting for potential seeding. Yes that’s all big. And I agree with you guys there.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with last year,” Kittle added. “I actually saw a clip from their head coach who talked about that: Last year was last year. It’s different teams, different coaches, and one of their best players, (Javon) Hargrave, is on our roster now. It’s a different game. I’m not really holding on to anything that happened last year.”
Left tackle Trent Williams concurred: “I know how I felt afterward, but that was one of those games that you bury quick and put in the rear-view. I don’t even remember the game plan. I really don’t.”