Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images

“He Looks like Offensive Player of the Year” – Good News for 49ers As Trent Williams Talks Up Teammate’s Strong Return

Christian McCaffrey could have a monstrous 2025 campaign

Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images

San Francisco 49ers fans will be upbeat to hear what Trent Williams had to say regarding running back Christian McCaffrey (CMC) and how he has looked coming back from an injury last season.

While the star running back has not played in either of the 49ers’ two preseason games up to now, he has been performing at high standards in training camp. After missing out on all but 4 games last season due to injuries, the former Panthers’ running back is looking to come back stronger than ever for the 2025 season.

Trent Williams Lauds McCaffrey’s Work in Practice

During a media session at training camp, Williams was asked by reporters about how McCaffrey has looked so far in practice, to which the veteran tackle responded very positively as he praised his teammate’s work ethic.

“You all have eyes like I do, Christian looks fantastic,” said Williams on Thursday. “He looks like Offense Player of the Year Christian. So that’s really, really refreshing to see, knowing what he had to deal with last year, just the little nicks and knacks and not being able to do what he loves. To see him out there this year 100% healthy, treating every play like it’s his last, playing with his hair on fire. It really motivates the guys when you got a generational talent that brings it to work and to practice every day.”

"He looks like Offensive Player of the Year Christian."

Trent is confident CMC is ready to go this season 😈 pic.twitter.com/DICZiRG4qT
— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) August 21, 2025

Whenever McCaffrey is healthy, there are always high expectations from him. Generally, he tends to finish a season as one of the top running backs when fully healthy. Unfortunately, last season was a huge letdown in terms of injuries.

McCaffrey was dealing with calf and Achilles injuries throughout training camp, which forced him to miss all of preseason and the first 9 weeks of the regular season as he continued his recovery.

Just as he was getting into his stride in his fourth game back, he suffered a PCL injury to his right knee against the Bills, resulting in him missing out the remainder of the season. Nevertheless, the All-Pro running back is back again and is looking to emulate his 2023 season, where he made notable contributions to the team’s overall success.

Welcome back, Christian McCaffrey.pic.twitter.com/oFb3XsYOMw
— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) July 29, 2025

Christian McCaffrey’s Masterful 2023 Season

Prior to his injury-prone 2024 season, CMC had a career year in 2023. It was his first full year with the 49ers, and McCaffrey fit into the Kyle Shanahan system like clockwork.

Not only was he the league leader in rushing yards with 1,459 to his name, but he also punched in 14 touchdowns on the ground. The Stanford alum also added another 564 receiving yards and caught 7 touchdowns.

McCaffrey was a key component of the 49ers’ offense, and it resulted in him winning the NFL Offensive Player of the Year award while the team came tantalizingly close to lifting the Lombardi Trophy as well.

Scary: Christian McCaffrey is moving just as fast and quickly as he did in 2023 and hit 25 MPH on the GPS tracker, per Kyle Shanahan.

One of the best players in the NFL when healthy. pic.twitter.com/bVWQhrxTAr
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) August 14, 2025

The news from the 49ers training camp suggests that McCaffrey is once again back up to speed and looking as dangerous as he looked back in 2023. These are certainly encouraging signs for the team and its fan base.

Hit with multiple injury issues to its wide receiver room, the 49ers will need to bank on McCaffrey initially to weather the storm until the likes of Brandon Aiyuk, Demarcus Robinson, and Jauan Jennings enter the fold.

Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images

Christian McCaffrey

NFL

San Francisco 49ers

Trent Williams

Devavrat Kulkarni

nfl

I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!