This 49ers running back is off to a truly outrageous start

If you can believe it, the 49ers’ decision to trade for Christian McCaffrey somehow looks even smarter than it did last year.

Through two weeks, the do-it-all running back has been the focal point of a dominant Niners offense that has put up back-to-back 30-bombs. McCaffrey, 27, also leads the league in rushing yards (268), has more 40-yard-plus runs than any other back and, if sponsored awards are your thing, is the reigning FedEx Ground Player of the Week. In an offense already loaded with dangerous weapons, McCaffrey consistently looks the most lethal when he’s on the field — which, on Sunday against the Rams, was every offensive snap.

That type of workload has made him the league leader in one more potentially problematic category: carries. McCaffrey has 42 to his name through two games, putting him on pace for 357 for the year. His previous career high was 287 back in 2019, a year when he was a first-team All-Pro player. He’d then go on to play just 10 out of a possible 33 games over the next two years due to injury.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan admitted Monday after the 30-23 win over the Rams that the Niners should have managed McCaffrey’s carries better. Elijah Mitchell, McCaffrey’s backup, didn’t see a single snap in the Week 2 matchup.

“Yeah, we’ve definitely got to get Elijah in there more and do better with our rotation than we did yesterday,” Shanahan told reporters. “That wasn’t the plan going in. It just ended up that way, and I’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Shanahan then tossed running backs coach Bobby Turner under the bus, placing the blame on him for not keeping better track of Mitchell’s reps.

“Position coaches do that,” Shanahan said. “For him not to get in, I definitely should have noticed and asked for him.”

Given that the Niners play their next game on Thursday, it’s fair to wonder whether they will change things up on a short week. Sunday wasn’t that much of an outlier: McCaffrey has played in 92% of the team’s total offensive snaps, with Mitchell only subbing in for 10 plays in the Week 1 blowout of Pittsburgh. Going from that to no rest snaps at all in Week 2 — and a short week this week — can’t possibly be enough downtime for a player with a significant injury history who will be vital to any desired championship success this season.

McCaffrey has proven time and time again that he can do it all on offense when his number gets called. Whether he should be relied upon to do it all, on every single down, is a different question altogether.