Soon, it will be time for the 2025 NFL season to begin. Offseason workouts and minicamp practices are in full swing, with each and every team hard at work in order to prepare for a campaign that they hope will result in a Super Bowl victory. For the San Francisco 49ers and former Stanford standout Christian McCaffrey, 2025 will be all about a return to the top of the NFC.

But the question becomes just how well McCaffrey will play this season, only a year removed from an injury-riddled 2024 that limited him to just four games on the field. Suffering a calf/achilles injury during training camp, McCaffrey did not make his season debut until November, then suffered a knee injury in his fourth game of the season that resulted in him being placed on the injured reserve list once again.

Proclaiming that he feels fully healthy this time around, some might expect McCaffrey to return to his form from 2023–a season in which he won the NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award. But entering his age-29 season and on the older side for a running back, expectations may need to be tempered just a bit.

On June 16, ESPN writer Eric Karabell did a piece on 19 things that fantasy football players should not be surprised to see happen this season. One thing that was mentioned was how McCaffrey could be in line for another down season, mentioning that health issues combined with possibly another big workload could lead to big problems for the ex-Cardinal.

“A healthy McCaffrey is a wonderful player, as most recently seen in 2023, but the 49ers–and fantasy managers–simply cannot count on his attendance,” Karabell said. “The 49ers must monitor his workload and hope for the best. This is a bad combination for someone likely to be an early-round draft pick. Perhaps McCaffrey, 29, returns to a high level of performance and carries the 49ers and your fantasy team, but he’s been a top-10 RB in only two of the past five seasons.”

It is not a huge surprise that ESPN is not super high on McCaffrey. For one, the 49ers rely heavily on McCaffrey and have, at times, used him to the point of wearing him down. And with the lack of a proven No. 2 runner, it appears even more likely that McCaffrey will get a high workload once again in 2025. If the 49ers do not figure out a way to share the ball more, it is hard to envision that a 29-year-old running back will stay healthy all season long.

It also did not help that the 49ers made minimal moves to upgrade the offensive line. During the games that McCaffrey was healthy last season, he barely averaged 4.0 yards per carry and never once found the end zone. At this point, the best case scenario is that this current offensive line group can stay healthy and prove that they all took a step forward in development this offseason.

But it is never wise to count out McCaffrey. Despite dealing with injury issues throughout his career, he has always found a way to prove his worth and show just how talented of a player he is. Assuming that McCaffrey is indeed fully healthy, 2025 could be the year of his resurgence, which could help the 49ers return to NFL dominance.