A year ago at this time, San Francisco 49ers superstar Christian McCaffrey was coming off a 2023 campaign in which he topped 2,000 total yards from scrimmage for the second time in his career, thus earning a First-Team All-Pro nod, an Offensive Player of the Year win, and a third-place finish in the NFL MVP vote.
As such, when ESPN released its annual preseason running back rankings for the 2024 season as voted on by executives, coaches, and scouts, McCaffrey was the clear-cut choice at No. 1.
In the 2025 rankings that were recently released, however, the three-time Pro Bowler finds himself four spots lower on the list, sitting at No. 5 behind Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Bijan Robinson.
And the reason for the drop was made crystal clear in the very first sentence of his section, which reads, "Durability is the one thing holding McCaffrey back."
McCaffrey, of course, made just four appearances for the Niners in 2024, marking the third time in the last five years that he's missed at least 10 games. Naturally, that's a cause for concern for any player. But when that player is consistently one of the highest-paid at his position, it's even worse.
Christian McCaffrey has missed 37 of a possible 84 regular-season games over the last five years
When healthy, McCaffrey is easily one of the best running backs in the game, as evidenced by the fact that in the five seasons he's been healthy, he's tallied at least 1,000 total yards from scrimmage in every single one of them.
And in four of those five years, the lone exception being his rookie campaign with the Carolina Panthers in 2017, he's surpassed the 1,000-yard mark on the ground.
As the ESPN rankings pointed out, McCaffrey has four seasons in which he's recorded at least 1,800 scrimmage yards and 10 total touchdowns, the exception again being his rookie year. Only Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith, Marshall Faulk, and LaDainian Tomlinson have more, each achieving the feat five times.
But it's simply impossible to ignore the other three seasons.
After not sitting out a single game in his first three years in the league, McCaffrey missed 13 games for Carolina in 2020 due to ankle and shoulder injuries. The following year, he missed 10 contests due to hamstring and ankle ailments.
And as mentioned, he played just four games for the 49ers this past season, sitting out the entire preseason and the first eight weeks of the regular season due to calf and Achilles injuries. In his fourth game back, he left a lopsided loss to the Buffalo Bills in the first half after suffering a PCL injury to his right knee, which ultimately landed him on injured reserve, thus ending his season.
That's 36 of a possible 84 regular-season games over a five-year period. There was technically a 37th, as he sat out the final week of the 2023 campaign after suffering a mild calf strain in Week 17. But as the Niners had already secured the No. 1 seed in the NFC, we'll let that one slide.
Still, though, that's roughly 44% of games he's missed since the start of the 2021 season. So, it's understandable why ESPN would have a hard time putting him back in the top spot of their rankings. And maybe the slide will add a little extra motivation for the 29-year-old as he prepares for 2025.
But something tells me McCaffrey is already motivated in an effort to silence the doubters.
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