Focus on Sport/Getty Images
The San Francisco 49ers didn’t violate the NFL’s rules regarding the injury status of star running back Christian McCaffrey in Week 1, the league announced on Friday.
“We have looked into the 49ers’ reporting of the playing status of Christian McCaffrey for the team’s Monday night game against the New York Jets,” the league said in a statement, via NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. “We have found no evidence of a violation of the league’s Injury Report Policy in this matter.”
McCaffrey was revealed as inactive for the 49ers’ clash with the New York Jets mere hours before kickoff. After the game, backup Jordan Mason said that he learned he was starting on Friday (h/t Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk).
McCaffrey was initially listed as questionable due to calf and Achilles issues, participating in practice on a limited basis throughout the week leading up to the game.
Despite Mason’s comments after the win, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan claimed that he never told the running back that he was in line to start.
“I never told Jordan he was gonna start,” Shanahan told reporters (h/t Florio). “Told him he had to be ready a bunch. But it might have been [running backs coach] Bobby [Turner] or somebody trying to pump him up. But I knew he was gonna have to play a lot. Told him that it wasn’t gonna be like usual.”
As for McCaffrey, the reigning Offensive Player of the Year has already been declared out for San Francisco’s Week 2 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings. Shanahan revealed that the team is considering placing him on injured reserve (per Pelissero). If McCaffrey lands on IR, he’ll be sidelined for at least four games.
It’s not unheard of for the NFL to penalize teams for injury report violations, as the Atlanta Falcons and former head coach Arthur Smith were fined $75,000 and $25,000, respectively, for failing to disclose the status of running back Bijan Robinson in Week 7 of the 2023 season.
The league also investigated the Cincinnati Bengals regarding the injury report status of quarterback Joe Burrow in Nov. 2023, although no fines were levied.
With McCaffrey out, Mason will have another large workload for the 49ers after rushing for a career-high 147 yards in Week 1.
The Philadelphia Eagles’ win over the Washington Commanders on Thursday night was pretty big for the Birds’ playoff outlook. The Eagles took a 1.5-game
Saquon Barkley was a Giant nightmare for the Commanders on Thursday night. The Eagles running back recorded 198 total yards on 28 touches, rushi
The Washington Commanders were the top team in the NFC East before they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Philadelphia Eagles took care of the Dallas
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has some lofty goals for the league in the next few years.Goodell mentioned over the weekend that he's hoping the NFL will play e