Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco 49ers opened the field Christian McCaffreyMonday’s practice window, increasing the possibility he could prepare for Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. McCaffrey has been on injured reserve (IR) since September 14 due to bilateral Achilles tendonitis, but he could be activated before the Week 10 game at Raymond James Stadium.

General manager John Lynch expressed optimism about McCaffrey’s healthy recovery, hinting he could make his debut for the 2024 season this weekend.

“I certainly hope so,” Lynch said when asked by Tim Kawakami about The TK show if McCaffrey could be active on Sunday. “Christian passed every part of the test of our plan. During the bye week, he stayed here with our coaches. How do you manage to work during the bye week? You come when you have guys like him who are train and want to see it. I sat in my office and watched from afar. It looks great. He responded well.

McCaffrey’s progress through four practices this week will be key in determining whether he’s ready to return after missing significant time.

“I will say that doing IR work in parallel with our trainers and strength coaches is different than actually getting on the field,” Lynch explained. “There’s that reactive element. And so, now we have to put him through this test, react to a safety coming in and take away one side of his leverage, and he has to make a cut, that type of thing.

“And can he respond the right way? Can he feel healthy enough? Can he feel like he can make an impact and handle the volume that we’ve put on him? If that’s the case, we will not hesitate to play him. I think we were very thoughtful. I’m proud of our health and performance team, proud of Christian, of the way they attacked this rehab.

“It was difficult, when you have a player of that caliber, not to have him. I think it gave the other players an opportunity to show what they can do. But there is no doubt about it, you are missing a Christian McCaffrey, your whole team, not just your attack, when he is not on the field.

You can listen to Lynch’s full interview below.

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