One player who stands to benefit significantly from the San Francisco 49ers clinching the NFC's No. 1 seed and home-field advantage in the playoffs is running back Christian McCaffrey. Not only has he been a record-breaking workhorse for the Niners offense this season, but the star player exited Sunday's game against the Washington Commanders with a calf injury.
"[It's a] possible calf strain. We'll have to see tomorrow, though," head coach Kyle Shanahan said during his post-game press conference.
Now that the top seed is secured, it appears unlikely that McCaffrey will play in the 49ers' final game against the Los Angeles Rams.
"We think he'll be all right," Shanahan added. "I don't know if he would have been able to go next week or not, but we'll have to find out more tomorrow. But he was moving around all right on the sideline, so hoping it's not too bad, but we won't know until tomorrow."
After stretching on the sideline, McCaffrey grabbed his helmet and walked around fine, seemingly hoping to return to the game. Had it been a playoff matchup, there is no doubt in the running back's mind that he would have re-entered the game.
"I will always play if I can," McCaffrey said in the visitor's locker room at FedEx Field. "I think it was minor and just made the smart move, especially not knowing what was going to happen next week. I didn't want to go in there and make it any worse."
While McCaffrey is optimistic about the injury not being too severe, he remains uncertain about when it occurred.
"I'm not sure what happened," McCaffrey said. "It was pretty minor. I was just having a hard time for a little bit, pushing off, and just for precautionary reasons, thought it would be better just to rest it."
Fortunately, McCaffrey will have abundant recovery time thanks to the Arizona Cardinals upsetting the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.
"That means the world," McCaffrey said. "So shout out to the Cardinals. I appreciate you guys. That was huge. I think we all need it. I know I need it. So I'm excited to just take a breath and get everything back to normal."