CMC, Mitchell day to day with injury; expected to play vs. Eagles

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The 49ers running backs came out of their 19-12 NFC divisional-round win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday a little nicked up. 

Christian McCaffrey suffered a calf contusion and Elijah Mitchell injured his groin in the gritty game that posed challenges for Kyle Shanahan’s ground attack. 

The head coach reported via conference call Monday that both ball carriers are day-to-day and should be available Sunday for the NFC Championship Game facing the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. 

“We’re expecting to get them all back for Sunday,” Shanahan said. “But we’ll see how it goes through the week with practice and everything. Hopefully, it’ll go well and that’ll get them ready for Sunday.”

The two starting running backs accounted for 24 of the team’s 32 rushing attempts in a slog of a game that offered an average of only 3.5 yards per carry for both teams. Still, the 49ers did enough to advance to the next step in their journey through the postseason. 

McCaffrey has been a huge contributor to the efficiency of the offense since his arrival in Santa Clara. The All-Pro not only carried the ball 10 times for 35 yards and one touchdown in Sunday’s contest, but he caught six of his eight targets for 22 yards while also accounting for three of the offense’s first downs. 

49ers rookie running backs J.P. Mason and Ty Davis-Price likely will get a little extra work in at practice this week with both starters restricted to limited snap counts. 

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Charles Omenihu also is day-to-day with an oblique strain that occurred early in the game. The defensive lineman returned to the field and played a total of 15 defensive snaps and one on special teams but likely will be limited at practice this week. 

Overall, though, the 49ers are as healthy as they could be heading into their third contest of the postseason. 

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