Greg Olsen: Teams are ‘scared to death’ of 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey

Former Panthers tight end Greg Olsen only played with Christian McCaffrey in Carolina for three years before eventually retiring after the 2020 season and quickly pivoting to media, becoming an analyst for Fox. But those three seasons spent with McCaffrey—now thriving as RB1 in Kyle Shanhan's widely praised San Francisco 49ers offense—apparently provided enough of an impact for Olsen to use the 2023 NFL Offensive Player of the Year as the prime focus for a recent film session at Tight End University.

While Olsen gets into the Xs and Os much in the way fans have become accustomed to during NFL broadcasts, the takeaway quote occurred when "CMC" more or less did nothing at all on the first play being discussed, driving home the point that the running back constantly draws a rather absurd amount of attention from defenses regardless of his involvement in the play at hand.

"This is a read. This is McCaffrey. He obviously gets a ton of attention," Olsen stated. "Look at the attention he gets and he doesn't even run a route. When you have Christian McCaffrey, they're [the defense] scared to death that a one-yard pass on third-and-9 is a first down."


It's safe to say a running back is probably playing with a whole different skillset when defenses are concerned with their whereabouts on third-and-long.

The clip itself is just a glimpse into why Olsen became part of Fox's No. 1 announcing team alongside Kevin Burkhardt following the departures of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. And for those who aren't exactly NFL film room junkies, the various levels of explanation and reasoning Olsen offers up does a pretty great job in providing an even deeper appreciation of the value Christian McCaffrey has brought to the 49ers offense, just as he did with Olsen in Carolina.

As it currently stands, McCaffrey has been and will continue to be held out of 49ers preseason play due to a calf injury, but has indicated he would be ready to go for Week 1.

The 27-year-old, jack of all trades running back also recently stated that he could play into his mid-30s, saying "I absolutely think you can go as long as you want."