NFC Notes: Christian McCaffrey, Kenneth Walker, 49ers, Rams, Seahawks

49ers

The 49ers held out Christian McCaffrey from Week 1 but HC Kyle Shanahan mentioned that he could’ve played if it was a playoff game. Shanahan indicated McCaffrey was dealing with Achilles tendonitis and they want to be cautious with him. 

“Definitely, I believe if it was a playoff game, he would’ve played,” Shanahan said, via NFL.com. “But it’s not just the calf, it’s the Achilles and the Achilles is tendonitis and that stuff comes and goes. When it is acting up, it’s something you’ve got to be very careful about. Christian’s very diligent about that stuff. And if it was a playoff game, he made it very clear to me, he believed he could go. But when you hear that type of stuff and it’s not a playoff game and it’s Week 1, and especially when you’re dealing with the lower extremities like that it, it was a tough decision. But hearing all the words and stuff, in the long run it made it easy.”

Rams

Rams HC Sean McVay confirmed G Steve Avila played through a sprained MCL in the first half of Week 1’s game against the Lions until ruling him out early in the third quarter. 

“Yeah, he did play through the half and then they tell me he’s going to be out for a handful of weeks and then the first play of the second half, he’s out there,” McVay said, via RamsWire. “We had to yank him out. It’s a credit to how much he wants to be out there so I think that’s a positive problem but definitely got [VP of Sports Medicine and Performance] Reggie Scott worked up, but it shows you how tough Steve is.”

Seahawks

• Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald was non-committal when asked about RT George Fant (knee) and RB Kenneth Walker III (abdomen) practicing on Wednesday and already declared LB Uchenna Nwosu (knee) out this week, via Michael-Shawn Dugar.