Kyle Shanahan Downplays Christian McCaffrey’s Impact on 49ers’ Creativity

This is the week San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan turns loose Christian McCaffrey, right?

The Niners Week 8 road game against the Los Angeles Rams is the one where McCaffrey gets his increase in touches and the 22 snaps he had versus the Kansas City Chiefs, correct?

Finally, this upcoming Week 8 contest against the defending Super Bowl champs who got dropped 24-9 earlier this season by the 49ers is the one game where maybe, just maybe, the head coach really opens the playbook up with McCaffrey involved, right?

Shanahan got the chance to answer that question as the 49ers returned to practice on Wednesday, October 26.

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Kyle Shanahan Reveals If 49ers Offense Will Change

Shanahan was asked in his press conference with the Bay Area media if there’s more excitement about getting his creative juices going in this rivalry game now that McCaffrey is on board.

“When you have someone like Christian, it’s always a lot more fun,” Shanahan began.

However, “I don’t see it much as creative juices versus the Rams. We don’t change much. They don’t change much. We do the same thing each time. They do too. Their scheme hasn’t changed in a number of years and neither has ours.”

From what it sounds like on Shanahan’s end, there’s no need for him to draw up new plays to cater to McCaffrey. But, the sixth-year head coach indicated to reporters that the entire playbook will be open to “Run CMC” this time around.

“You try your hardest to get good players the ball in space and you see what they do with it. It’s a pretty simple game with both of us [the 49ers and Rams], because we know each other well and it usually turns into a physicality game. Who turns the ball over the least and who makes one more play than the other?” Shanahan added.

McCaffrey’s benefit in this offense is that Shanahan’s scheme is more run-oriented and includes screens designed to turn into explosive gains — or plays like this one by Deebo Samuel from the last time the two teams met at SoFi Stadium:

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Kyle Shanahan Expecting Same Rams in Week 8

There will be some expected new faces on the Rams’ side compared to the Week 4 matchup. The Rams are in the process of getting a much healthier offensive line and also anticipated having wide receiver Van Jefferson for this game.

Still, Shanahan is expecting that the only changes the Rams will make will involve their personnel.

“There’s only been two games, so we watched those two games hard that they’ve played since us, but it’s the same way they account for everybody. They have a scheme that hasn’t changed, so you know what you’re going to do. It’s a very sound scheme with some good players and they do a good job of mixing their coverages up and it really never changes,” Shanahan said.

McCaffrey, though, delivered this play the last time he was inside the “Rams House.”

And while there’s the thought of more touches and snaps for McCaffrey, Shanahan reminded media members that he never puts a number or gives a specific ceiling of how many snaps a player can have. With McCaffrey, it’ll likely be a go-with-the-flow type deal.

“I never go in with anybody I don’t know and give them numbers or a stat or anything. I try to get to know the athlete and how they play throughout a game and how we use them and how you balance people out and that’s usually how we do it,” Shanahan said.

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