49ers expect Christian McCaffrey back for Raiders after bye

Sunday's 29-20 loss to the Falcons ended with McCaffrey's status up in the air. By Monday the news was a lot better than anyone in the Bay feared.

Tom Pelissero

@TomPelissero

Good news on Christian McCaffrey and other 49ers after this week’s much-needed bye.

Cam Inman

@CamInman

49ers Kyle Shanahan call: *McCaffrey has a mild hamstring strain, not thigh. Optimistic he'll be OK for Raiders game post-bye *Also expected back (but not guaranteed) after bye are WRs Evans, Samuel; DE Bosa; LB Gifford; S Seigel, DT West *No kicker tryouts in works

The team first listed it as a thigh injury during the Atlanta game. On Monday it was changed to a hamstring, which sounds worse until you hear the word in front of it: mild. Shanahan said the team is "pretty optimistic" McCaffrey will be fine coming out of the off week. He stopped short of a guarantee, because hamstrings are hamstrings and nobody in that building wants to promise anything about this guy's soft tissue after the last couple of years.

ProFootballTalk

@ProFootballTalk

Christian McCaffrey has mild hamstring strain, 49ers optimistic he'll play after bye. t.co/yHWi9DwwgV

The timing is the luckiest part. San Francisco gets a bye right now, so a mild strain costs McCaffrey practice reps instead of a game. Sitting through a loss in Atlanta and then getting a week off to heal is about the best way a hamstring scare can go.

McCaffrey isn't the only one who could come back. Shanahan said Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel and Demarcus Robinson could all return after the bye, along with Nick Bosa, CJ West, cornerback Upton Stout and a group of linebackers and safeties. That's a lot of the starting lineup coming back at once. If even half of them suit up, the team that takes the field in Week 9 looks a lot different from the one that just lost to the Falcons.

The Raiders game itself got a bump too. The league moved it to a late-afternoon national window.

ProFootballTalk

@ProFootballTalk

49ers-Raiders game in Week 9 moved to a 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff. t.co/wjlogREbEi

So watch the injury reports when practice starts up after the bye. If McCaffrey practices fully and the receivers and Bosa are actually back, the price on San Francisco against Las Vegas is going to move, and probably fast. Coming off a loss, the 49ers could have that game look like a full-strength team against a rebuilding one by 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff. Until McCaffrey actually runs a practice, though, "optimistic" is only a word from the coach.