The 49ers are expected to activate running back Christian McCaffrey from injured reserve Saturday, allowing him to make his 2024 debut Sunday.
Officially, though, McCaffrey is questionable to play against the Buccaneers on Sunday.
“We’ll take him off IR tomorrow, and then he’ll be good to go unless something crazy happens on this plane ride. He should be good to go tomorrow once he gets off IR,” coach Kyle Shanahan said Friday, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com.
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel (rib/oblique) also is questionable, but he, too, is expected to play.
Wide receiver Jauan Jennings (hip) has no injury designation and will return after missing the past two games.
The 49ers, though, do have concern about the availability of edge rusher Nick Bosa, who injured his hip in Wednesday’s practice. He was limited in practice all week.
“I am [concerned] to a degree,” Shanahan said. “He wasn’t able to do a lot. He definitely was extremely limited. Hoping he’ll be all right, but we’ll see on Sunday.”
The 49ers ruled out wide receiver Chris Conley (hamstring), defensive tackle Kevin Givens (groin), defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos (knee) and cornerback Charvarius Ward (personal). Ward is away from the team after his 1-year-old daughter, Amani Joi, died last week.
Center Jon Feliciano (knee) and safety Malik Mustapha (calf) are questionable.
The question of whether to go for two after a late touchdown from a team trailing by seven points has come up four times this week.
On Sunday, one coach who opted to pass on going for two (and lost in overtime) was asked about the coach who decided to go for two (and lost in regulation).
“It’s very interesting,” Patriots coach Jerod Mayo told reporters. “You’re always going to have people on either side, and I understand it. If it works, you’re a genius. If it doesn’t work, then you leave yourself open to criticism. It’s part of it.
“But again, there are so many factors that go into it. Whether you’re talking about analytics — all right, but analytics doesn’t take into account other things. What’s the weather? How’s the game flow going? What are the matchups? There are so many different things. I would say last night, [Bengals coach Zac Taylor] probably felt that was the best thing to do for his team. It’s easy to second-guess it, but it’s interesting. It is interesting.”
Mayo said more about Taylor’s decision than Mayo said about his own. And the biggest difference between Mayo on Sunday, Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald on Sunday, Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles on Monday, and Taylor on Thursday is that the Patriots scored their touchdown with zero minutes and zero seconds on the clock. This removed from the equation the factors arising from the remaining time.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford would have had 51 seconds to put his team in field-goal range. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes would have had 27 seconds to engineer a game-winning field goal. Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson would have had 38 seconds. The Titans would have had nothing.
Patriots convert, they win. Patriots fail, they lose.
What would have happened after a successful two-point conversion with time remaining never gets discussed. Look at how the Ravens were moving the ball in the second half. Jackson could have pulled it off. (Of course, once-automatic kicker Justin Tucker might have missed the kick.)
So when Zac Taylor says the Bengals wanted to win the game, there’s no guarantee they would have won. The Ravens still could have pulled it off.
Then there’s the question of whether the Bengals would have won in overtime. If the Bengals had won the toss, would they have hot-knife-through-buttered their way through the Baltimore defense? Considering what Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase had done in regulation, maybe they would have.
On that note, and as Rodney Harrison mentioned during Friday’s PFT Live, Burrow didn’t even look Chase’s way on the two-point try, even though the Ravens had only one man on him.
Mayo is right. There are plenty of factors. In four specific cases in the past five days, four teams scored touchdowns in the final minute. Three went for one. One went for two. None of them won.
The Buccaneers held walkthroughs on Wednesday and Thursday before gathering for a full practice on Friday and an important member of the team joined them on the field for the first time this week.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield was a non-participant in practice because of a toe injury, but said that he didn’t have concern about his availability for Sunday’s game against the 49ers. Mayfield took part in Friday’s workout and head coach Todd Bowles told reporters that the quarterback is good to go for the weekend.
Reporters at Bucs practice said that wide receiver Mike Evans was the only player who wasn’t working. Wide receiver Sterling Shepard (hamstring, hip), safety Jordan Whitehead (quad), and wide receiver Jalen McMillan (hamstring) all missed the last two days of practice.
Friday’s injury report will carry any injury designations they picked up, but Bowles said Evans (hamstring) is the only player who has been ruled out.
After two good days of practice, Christian McCaffrey is on track to return Sunday.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said he expects the running back to make his 2024 debut against the Buccaneers.
“I do feel good one way or another,” Shanahan said on KNBR on Thursday, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com. “It’s been two good days. I’m just kind of messing around, but he’s been awesome these last two days, so hopefully, that continues to go well, and expect to get him out there.
“You never know for a setback or anything, but these two days have been great, and expect to see him out there.”
McCaffrey has missed the entire season while recovering from bilateral Achilles tendinitis but returned to practice this week as he works his way back into playing shape.
The 49ers will have to activate him from injured reserve by Saturday’s deadline for him to play Sunday.
49ers running back Christian McCaffrey has been back at practice this week and the team’s quarterback is happy to have him.
Brock Purdy told reporters, “It’s been awesome” to have McCaffrey on the field, after the team designated him to return from injured reserve. McCaffrey has missed the season to this point with bilateral Achilles tendinitis.
“Just what he brings to the table and really just firing everybody else up, all of us coming off the bye week, and feeling good and fresh. And then you get 23 next to you in the backfield, it’s been awesome,” Purdy said, via David Bonilla of the team’s website. “Looks great moving around, and he’s trending in the right direction. So we’re excited to see what happens.”
Though McCaffrey has not played this season, the 49ers still rank No. 4 in rushing, No. 2 in total yards, and No. 6 in points scored. They finished No. 3, No. 2, and No. 3 in the same categories last season.
While it’s clear San Francisco still has offensive players who can get things done, Purdy is glad McCaffrey is on the way back.
“But more than anything, we have really good playmakers across the board, and we’re going to try to get the ball into all our guys’ hands at the right time, in the right situation,” Purdy said. “It’s always nice, though, knowing that I can go through my read and come back down to Christian.”
McCaffrey was limited in his return to practice on Wednesday.
