John Lynch: 49ers not concerned with Christian McCaffrey’s health; RB campaigning to play vs. Chiefs
General manager John Lynch spoke with reporters on Friday as the San Francisco 49ers practiced. The topic of discussion was the 49ers’ new running back. On Thursday night, the team agreed to terms on a trade for Christian McCaffrey. The trade became official on Friday after the running back passed his physical.
Lynch stated that the team’s focus is on this weekend’s matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. However, the 49ers are excited to acquire the All-Pro player.
“You’ve got to strike when the opportunity’s there, and I can’t tell you how excited we are to have landed Christian McCaffrey as part of our team,” Lynch said. “We’ve been working on it for some time, and it all came to fruition last night. It did take a lot to get him, but I think he’s worthy of that, and he’s that kind of player.”
Lynch added that the 49ers would not have made a move if they didn’t believe they had a roster capable of competing for a championship.
“We understand we have a lot of work to do,” Lynch said. “This isn’t a magic pill. That’s not going to fix all of our ails as a team, one player. We’ve all got to get better, but we do still very much believe in this team, and that’s why we took a swing at an excellent football player.”
Just over an hour before landing in the Bay Area, McCaffrey joined his teammates for Friday’s practice. That doesn’t necessarily mean he will play on Sunday against the Chiefs, with Lynch calling that “a tall order” given the running back’s unfamiliarity with the playbook.
If it were up to McCaffrey, he would play. The running back is already been campaigning to get on the field against the Chiefs.
“I’ll leave that to the coaches and whatnot to get Christian up to speed, but I do think it’s a tall order,” the GM said. “We’d sure love to have him, but that’s a lot to ask. So we’ll make a very thought-out decision on that as well.
Lynch was asked about the 49ers’ concerns with McCaffrey’s injury history.
“We discussed it all,” Lynch said. “… First of all, you’ve got to look at his history. Coming out of Stanford, really, a pristine health record. The last couple of years have been rough, but it really felt like this year he had reestablished that health.”
Lynch, a former NFL safety, said he’s gone through that in his own Hall of Fame career. Sometimes he struggled to stay on the field and then went years without missing games.
“You can never have complete certainty on that,” Lynch continued. “It’s beyond our control. But you try to make the best decisions you can. He has played a lot of football this year, and he’s played really good football. He’s done that throughout his career, and he’s an extremely versatile player. He’s an explosive football player. He’s a smart football player. I could go on and on. And he checks all the boxes.”
