SANTA CLARA — It was Oct. 30, 2022 and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan had his first chance to unleash his new toy on the Los Angeles Rams.
Christian McCaffrey arrived by trade 10 days earlier for a handful of draft picks, none in the first round. The Rams, coached by Shanahan’s longtime friendly rival Sean McVay, had also tried to trade with Carolina to get McCaffrey. Los Angeles had already outfoxed the 49ers in 2021 by trading for Matthew Stafford, who was also on Shanahan’s radar.
“We heard they were in it, yeah,” Shanahan said Tuesday. “You hear a lot of things when you’re dealing with trades. I guess it was true, but glad he ended up here.”
With McCaffrey getting some work with no practice in a home loss to Kansas City, Shanahan got his chance to turn a 31-14 win over the Rams at SoFi S