SANTA CLARA. Calif. — Christian McCaffrey has long been the NFL standard when it comes to versatile running backs, showing an ability to handle routes like a true receiver on the outside on top of thriving in the ground game for the San Francisco 49ers.
McCaffrey has been surpassed so far this fall by offseason training partner Bijan Robinson, who is off to a near record-setting start for the Atlanta Falcons headed into Sunday night’s game against the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium.
“He’s amazing,” McCaffrey, who was the No. 8 pick of the 2017 draft, said of Robinson, who was the No. 8 pick of the 2023 draft. “When you see it in person, you realize why he is who he is.”
The rest of the league is seeing what McCaffrey saw in the offseason and what the 49ers (4-2) must deal with against the Falcons (3-2). Robinson leads the NFL with 822 yards from scrimmage (484 rushing on 83 carries, 338 rushing on 23 catches), which ranks sixth in league history for the most through the first five games of a season.
Robinson joined Thurman Thomas (1991 for the Buffalo Bills) as the only players ever with at least 300 yards receiving and 450 rushing through five games, and he has a chance to join McCaffrey as one of four players with at least 1,000 of each in a full season.
“That’s a huge compliment,” McCaffrey said of comparisons to Robinson. “I watch him move, watch him make a lot of these plays, and it’s inspiring. He’s definitely somebody that when you watch him play that, any chance you get, you try to emulate some of the stuff he does.”
Robinson needs 178 yards against San Francisco to become the first player since Marshall Faulk for the 2000 St. Louis Rams to reach 1,000 scrimmage yards through the first six games of a season. The Falcons star has an average of 164.4 per game after carrying 19 times for 170 yards and catching six passes for 68 yards in a 24-14 home win against the Bills on Monday night.
Falcons coach Raheem Morris called him “the best player in football,” but Robinson knows he still has plenty of work to do to achieve his goals.
“I don’t want to be the guy that’s saying I can’t be stopped,” he said. “That’s not who I am. I’ve got to continue to get better every single day. I have to continue to get better every single game, because when you start thinking you can’t be stopped or you’re the best player, then that’s when you start playing bad.”
The 49ers enter the seventh week of the season tied for first place in the NFC West with the Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks, but San Francisco owns a win over each during its 3-0 start to division play. The Falcons, who have already had their lone open date, are second in the NFC South behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-1), who are the division’s four-time reigning champions and opened the season with a 23-20 win at Atlanta.
Not surprisingly, both Atlanta and San Francisco are dealing with injuries to key players at this point in the season.
For the 49ers, starting quarterback Brock Purdy returned to practice on a limited basis this past week but will still miss his third straight game with a toe injury. Mac Jones, whose average of 313 passing yards per game leads the NFL, is set to make his fifth start of the season, with the 49ers having won three of his starts so far. His 1,252 passing yards are the most for a San Francisco quarterback in his first four starts for the team.
The 49ers should be boosted by star tight end George Kittle returning after missing five games with a hamstring injury. Kittle is a big part of both the passing game, which is missing several key receivers, and the running game that has struggled to get going this season.
“George is awesome,” Jones said. “Obviously, haven’t gotten a lot of reps with him, but we have in a way too, just from me watching, being a fan from afar. He’s just great energy in the huddle, and he’s just George.”
San Francisco receiver Ricky Pearsall (knee) will miss his third straight game, while defensive lineman Yetur Gross-Matos (hamstring) will be out for a second straight week.
In addition, linebacker Tatum Bethune will get his second career start in place of four-time All-Pro first-team selection Fred Warner, who went down with a season-ending ankle injury in the 30-19 loss at Tampa Bay last weekend.
Bethune, a seventh-round pick of the 2024 draft, got his only real work on defense before Warner’s injury in the regular-season finale against the Arizona Cardinals last January with both teams already out of contention for a playoff berth. Bethune had played only 16 other defensive snaps as a pro outside of that game and knows he has a heavy responsibility stepping in as the signal caller for the defense at middle linebacker.
Bethune had 10 tackles against the Bucs, but there were also some communication errors after he entered the game.
“It’s always a challenge coming behind Fred,” Bethune said. “He’s the best in the league, probably a future Hall of Famer. So that’s big shoes to fill, honestly, and everybody knows that. … I’m here for a reason. They understand my traits and attributes, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Meanwhile, Atlanta left tackle Jake Matthews has started 183 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the NFL and the most in Falcons history, but he left Monday night’s game with an ankle injury and was listed as questionable on Friday’s NFL injury report.
Right guard Chris Lindstrom wasn’t counting Matthews out.
“I’ve seen him overcome so many things,” Lindstrom said. “He’s a machine.”
The Falcons have ruled out cornerbacks Billy Bowman Jr. (hamstring) and Clark Phillips III (triceps), safety Jordan Fuller (knee) and edge rusher Jalon Walker (groin).
Ray-Ray McCloud is also out for the second straight game but is not injured, with Morris describing the decision as a private matter between the team and the player who has been Atlanta’s No. 3 receiver since last season.
“Excused absence — (sent) home,” Morris said Friday, when McCloud missed practice for the second day in a row. “Working through some things right now that are private with my young man, and we’ll figure those things out as we go.”
The team fired receivers coach Ike Hilliard last month after the team’s 30-0 loss to the Carolina Panthers dropped the Falcons to 1-2. McCloud and Hilliard are close, but Morris said Hilliard’s dismissal was unrelated to McCloud’s situation, and the head coach also said it should not be considered a disciplinary issue.
“It is just more a football thing,” Morris said, “and what we’ve got to get straightened out.”