Kyle Shanahan has taken every opportunity to praise Christian McCaffrey during the 2023 season.
The San Francisco 49ers head coach has made no secret of his admiration for the massive impact McCaffrey has on their offense and his belief the running back is deserving of the MVP award.
Shanahan was not impressed with one thing McCaffrey performed this season, though.
Shanahan was questioned about McCaffrey’s flop in the 49ers’ Week 13 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles at his Thursday news conference, which was held in advance of the team’s Christmas Day game against the Baltimore Ravens.
On the Manningcast this week, McCaffrey made light of his attempts to get a flag after Eagles defensive end Fletcher Cox threw him aside following a play.
When questioned about the footage, Shanahan offered McCaffrey some helpful critiques.
“I didn’t see the Manningcast. I saw that [the flop], and I thought that’s like the only thing he didn’t do very well this year,” said Shanahan.
“It wasn’t the best flop, it can’t be so obvious. You want guys to do that, you’re not allowed to touch guys after the play so sometimes guys can’t see it because it happens so fast but they can see your reaction but you don’t want it to turn into the NBA too fast.”
McCaffrey concurred with Shanahan’s evaluation.
He stated, “That was some of my worst work,” on the Manningcast.In my career, I’ve had a few decent failures. That wasn’t among them.
“I’m relieved the referee gave me assistance and giggled as I stood up. “That was one of the worst acting jobs I’ve ever seen,” he said. And I simply chuckled with him, thinking, “Yep, you’re right.”
The opinion therefore is that McCaffrey has to improve his flop game. Fortunately for the 49ers, he has performed at the top level on the field in everything else he has done this season.
