Running back Christian McCaffrey had to do a lot of cramming after being traded to the 49ers in the middle of last season, but he doesn’t have that problem this summer.
McCaffrey’s had an extended period of time to absorb what head coach Kyle Shanahan wants to do on offense and he said on KNBR Monday that he’s enjoyed moving into a new stage of appreciation for the scheme. McCaffrey said he feels “like a football nerd every time I’m in those meetings” because he’s able to fully grasp the offense rather than trying to pick it up on the fly.
“Yeah, it’s much better,” McCaffrey said, via 49ersWebzone.com. “OTAs were great, just to really understand the concepts and really, not just learn the running back position, but the whole offense, and understand timing with what the quarterback sees and what Kyle sees, and getting timing right with the O-line, and [fullback Kyle Juszczyk], and the tight ends. So coming into camp, you’re not playing catch up. So it’s been great to be able to kind of not just learn the offense, but master it.”
McCaffrey did just fine while playing catch up last year and the prospect of him having the entire offense down pat is likely a troubling one for opposing defenses.