Niners Nation on Christian McCaffrey

New receiver threats should ease defensive focus on McCaffrey in 2026.

Trent Williams explains that the 49ers' new receiver threats—particularly Mike Evans and rookie De'Zhaun Stribling—will help McCaffrey by drawing defensive attention away from him. Last year, safeties keyed in on filling gaps and made life difficult for McCaffrey both on the ground and in the running game because the Niners lacked consistent perimeter threats who could win on isolation routes. With Evans occupying two sets of eyes on deep balls and Stribling winning on vertical routes, defenses can no longer zero in on McCaffrey.

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