SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Perhaps the only person around the San Francisco 49ers not worried about the heavy workload that All-Pro Christian McCaffrey handled last season is McCaffrey himself.
While Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the coaching staff have expressed a need to reduce McCaffrey's usage after his 450-touch campaign in the 2025 regular season and playoffs, McCaffrey doesn't see a need for load management.
“I’ve been dealing with those questions for nine years it feels like,” McCaffrey said. “I think the workload in our sport is really monitored in practice, not in games. We play 17 regular-season games a year and everybody’s livelihoods are on the line. I would say on Sunday you’ve got to do whatever it takes to win and that’s not a coach’s job. You don’t tell a 3-point shooter you only get six 3s today. So much of it is rhythmic and it’s my job to put my body in the best position I can to go out there and play. I think everything else can be monitored during the week. ... But when it comes to game days, I like to think, prepare yourself for playing every snap.”
McCaffrey nearly did that last season when he led all running backs by playing in 83% of offensive snaps for the 49ers. McCaffrey hardly ever asks for a break and running backs coach Bobby Turner kept calling his number.
“It’s challenging,” Turner said. “But I should have personally done a better job of managing that last year, because I do keep a tally on every play and aware when he’s in, when he isn’t. But this year, the coaching staff, they will all be involved in making sure that doesn’t happen.”
After being limited to four games because of injuries in 2024, McCaffrey was an ironman last season. He played 1,010 offensive snaps in the regular season and playoffs — just the ninth running back in the last 20 seasons to top the 1,000 mark — and became the second player in the last decade with at least 450 combined carries and catches.
With several other offensive stars, from quarterback Brock Purdy to tight end George Kittle to receiver Ricky Pearsall, sidelined for long stretches by injuries, the Niners couldn't afford to take McCaffrey off the field as he was both the team's best runner and often one of its more reliable pass catchers.
“We went into the year wanting to take care of him a little bit more,” Shanahan said. “But the way the offense went, I think more with the receivers and the injuries that we had, it was hard to get him off (the field). And it was cool to have him out there because he did help our offense so much.”
McCaffrey, who turned 30 on Sunday, hasn't responded well in the past following his heaviest-use seasons. The previous two times he topped 400 touches — in 2019 with Carolina and 2023 with the 49ers — he was severely hampered by injuries the following season, missing 13 games each in 2020 and 2024.
That's what the 49ers are hoping to avoid this year when they plan to put more trust in the young backs.
Jordan James, a fifth-round pick in 2025, got hurt in training camp and never established himself as a viable option. His only three offensive snaps in the regular season came when San Francisco was kneeling out the clock in a blowout win against Indianapolis in Week 16. His only other action came late in a 41-6 playoff loss to Seattle when he had six carries for 28 yards and one reception.
The 49ers then used a third-round pick to take Indiana's Kaelon Black in this year's draft and are hoping at least one of the two can earn playing time this season.
“I’m positive they’re going to get more opportunities,” Turner said. “They both are competitors, they both were drafted for a reason. They’re mentally tough people, they can be explosive. ... They definitely will get more opportunity, which means Christian is going to be fresher."
The 49ers are also hoping a fresher McCaffrey will make him more explosive. Despite gaining 2,126 yards from scrimmage and flirting with his second 1,000-yard rushing and receiving season, McCaffrey struggled to generate big plays with only three runs of at least 20 yards, down from nine in his last healthy season in 2023 when he won AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year.
The Niners had four big runs overall in the season after averaging nearly 14 a season the previous four years.
“When you look around the league and you study great backs and study guys who affect the game like he does, those guys do come out of the game,” offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said. “Those guys do get a blow sometimes and whether it’s a drive or a couple plays in a series, it helps those players. Christian knows that, and we’ve got to do a better job as coaches, we’ve got to do a better job at times of getting a better rotation."
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San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey gestures on the field during NFL football practice Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey speaks at a news conference after an NFL football practice Thursday, May 28, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Adam Scott doesn't feel any differently now than eight years ago when he was 30 feet and two putts away from securing a spot in the U.S. Open at a grueling 36-hole qualifier. He got it done and extended his streak to 17 years in a row playing all the majors.
It was gratifying, yes, but not what he was chasing.
“I am playing all these majors to win them, not just to show up,” Scott said on that humid Ohio evening in 2018.
Nothing has changed except the number, and it's one worth celebrating. When the 45-year-old Australian tees off Thursday in the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, it will be his 100th consecutive major.
Jack Nicklaus is the only other player to reach 100 majors in a row, topping out at 146 straight, a record as untouchable as any in sport. Scott simply getting to 100 feels out of reach.
Jordan Spieth is next among active players at 52.
“And then you think of doubling that, and it's insane,” Spieth said. “It's not only playing at a high level, it's taking care of yourself the right way, it's the longevity of a sport that most people ... almost every single person you think of that could have reached 100 missed it because of an injury.”
It happened early for Tiger Woods — 46 in a row until reconstructive knee surgery after he won the 2008 U.S. Open — and for Rory McIlroy, who would be playing 70 in a row next week except for a freak ankle injury playing soccer that knocked him out of the 2015 British Open.
Tom Watson was at 87 in a row when he hurt his left shoulder preparing for the 1996 British Open. Sergio Garcia's streak stopped at 84 when he tested positive for COVID-19 at the 2020 Masters.
Scott avoided all that.
“For nothing to go wrong? It's so easy to miss golf tournaments,” Scottie Scheffler said. “You can get sick. You name it. Something is going to happen. One hundred in a row? It's insane.”
Scott's streak began at the 2001 British Open, and there has been a few close calls. He slammed his right hand in the door of his car before the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines and still played, finishing in a tie for 26th.
And then there was 2024, the last time he played a U.S. Open qualifier. He lost in a playoff for the final spot and was first alternate. Scott fell to No. 61 in the world the following week — the top 60 were exempt — but a week earlier, Grayson Murray had taken his life.
World ranking officials, consistent with what they had done when Payne Stewart died, kept Murray in the ranking for four weeks. The USGA removed Murray from consideration — he was No. 59 — and Scott moved up a spot to No. 60 to get in the Open.
Scott goes to his 100th consecutive major looking for a trophy, not a tribute. Even so, he appreciates what he's done to get there.
“It's not something you set out to do, obviously,” Scott said. "I take a lot of pride in my game and everything I put into it. The fact that Jack is the only other one to pass 100 ... and he’s way up there. I told him he didn’t have to worry about that.
“I’m proud of that achievement," he said. ”I would love for my record to be a little better than it is. There’s still a little time."
Scott has won 29 times around the world, including the Masters in 2013. He has reached No. 1 in the world. And now he has a feat that might be equally impressive.
“Absolutely incredible,” McIlroy said. “To even just play 100 majors throughout your career is an amazing achievement, but to play 100 in a row? I just think about the level that you need to be at and no injuries. There's a lot of things that need to fall in line — births of children that fall on those weeks, all that sort of stuff.”
Nick Faldo played 65 in a row, a streak that ended in 2003 with the birth of his daughter.
“To be prepared and be able to play and stay healthy so you can play is quite an achievement,” Nicklaus said.
Nicklaus played the 1962 Masters and didn't miss a major until sitting out the 1998 British Open. He can't think of a time he nearly missed a major. Nicklaus chalked that up to good health, and that's one thing to which Scott can relate.
“Adam is physically gifted as an athlete,” said Justin Rose, who played 48 in a row until he hurt his back during a practice round at the 2022 British Open and had to withdraw.
“He's very limber, strong, the kind of guy who just rocks up to the driving range," Rose said. “You don't see him spending tons of time in the gym warming up. And he swings it so well, he doesn't put a ton of stress on his body."
Scheffler uses the same trainer as Scott and shared a story of when Scott was going to try a dead lift. The Australian started arching his back instead of using his legs, and by the time trainers rushed in to stop him, Scott completed the lift.
“He should have broken his back. I would have been out for a year," Scheffler said. “He's hyperflexible, hypermobile. Very few people are built like that.”
As much as Scott would love to win at Shinnecock Hills — he set the course record in 2013 playing with members, but he has missed the cut there twice in the U.S. Open — he still acknowledges the feat of being in a class only the great Nicklaus occupies.
Scott doubts many more — if any — will be joining them. The modern game is about power, and bodies are breaking down.
“An extreme example I would use is Tiger,” Scott said. "He pushed extremely hard and got to 14 majors really quick and then it all broke down a little bit and he couldn't quite get to the record (18 majors) we all thought he was going to cruise past.
“Relative for everybody else, if they’re going to push themselves really hard, can they keep it together for these long careers we are kind of used to seeing in the game?”
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
J.T. Poston poses with the trophy and Jack Nicklaus after winning the Memorial golf tournament, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Dublin, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Adam Scott, of Australia, hits out of a bunker on the 18th hole during the first round of the Memorial golf tournament in Dublin, Ohio, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
