take out both mcelhenny and perry who were part of the “million dollar backfield” during the 1950s … both of whom are in the NFL HOF … but i doubt any of us here or most 49ers fans alive today either watched them on TV or especially saw them play live

if we just start from the 1980s when the dyansty began

i know mccaffrey has only played 22 game with the 49ers and maybe isn’t fair to rank him with some of the all time great RB in 49ers history because of it

but in terms of pure ability mccaffrey is right up there with the most talented RB in 49ers history just since the dynasty era of the 1980s and it’s a really long and great list of runnings backs over the last 40 or so years

craig, watters, hearst, gore, mccaffrey … taking out your feelings about their place in 49ers history and within your own fandom of the franchise

how would you rank them in terms of pure raw talent on the field … as imo it’s probably not fair to rank mccaffrey higher than many of these names because of his short tenure with the 49ers so far and of course a couple won super bowl titles and others were instrumental in the 49ers winning culture for years … granted i think when it’s all said and done mccaffrey will likely spend more time playing with the 49ers than watters did who only was with the 49ers for 3 seasons from 1992-1994 before leaving as a free agent after the 1994 super bowl season

at this time i’d rank them as :

craig

mccaffrey

gore

watters

hearst

maybe sacrilegious to put gore #3 on the list because he is the all time leading rusher in 49ers franchise history and at this time the only one who i believe is a lock to make it to the NFL HOF … although craig should’ve been voted in years ago and hopefully gets inducted eventually in the near future

i believe you could make the argument that that craig and mccaffrey for their era were the best duel threat RB in the NFL as both craig and mccaffrey had 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving in a single season with craig being the first RB to accomplish that feat in 1985 and mccaffrey doing it in 2019 with the panthers … with the only other NFL RB to do it being faulk in 1999 with the rams

but if mccaffrey continues to play at this level for the next few seasons and maybe & hopefully is instrumental in the 49ers finally winning a super bowl … i think he’d clearly solidify himself as an all time great in 49ers franchise history