The San Francisco 49ers made a surprise injury announcement for running back Christian McCaffrey on Saturday.
The 49ers said on Saturday that McCaffrey has been downgraded to questionable for the Week 15 game against the Tennessee Titans due to a back injury.
"From the 49ers: RB Christian McCaffrey (back) has been added to the injury report and is questionable for tomorrow’s game versus the Tennessee Titans," The Athletic's Matt Barrows relayed.
On the bright side, ESPN's Adam Schefter is reporting that McCaffrey is expected to be "good to go" for Sunday's game, so that's good news. Still, we're not letting our guard down until McCaffrey is confirmed to be active on Sunday.
We'll get final confirmation on McCaffrey's status for this week no later than 2:45 p.m. ET on Sunday, when the 49ers release their list of inactives.
McCaffrey was on the injury report this week, but because of an illness, so this is a new injury for him. It remains unclear when he suffered it, though.
With McCaffrey's status in question, fantasy football managers will want to grab his backup, Brian Robinson Jr., off waivers. Robinson has served as the clear-cut No. 2 back this season and will take the starting job if McCaffrey sits out.
With the 49ers locked in a tight playoff race, both in the NFC West and wild-card standings, they need all hands on deck. It goes without saying that not having McCaffrey, who is one of the best running backs in the NFL, will hurt San Francisco's offense.
The good news is, the Niners are facing one of the worst teams in the NFL in the Titans, who are already eliminated from playoff contention, so they should win even if McCaffrey doesn't play.
San Francisco enters Week 15 in third place in the NFC West but only one game behind both the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks.
The Niners are also sitting in the No. 6 spot in the conference playoff picture but have the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions right on their heels.
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