San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday that McCaffrey (Achilles) will remain in the Bay Area during the 49ers' Week 9 bye to take part in "simulated practice stuff," Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com reports. "It depends how this week goes," Shanahan said, when asked if McCaffrey will be available to make his season debut Week 10 at Tampa Bay. "He's had no setbacks, so it looks like we're on track, but he's going to hit it hard this week while we're gone...as long as it all goes good, hopefully we'll get him back in practice next week."
McCaffrey has been sidelined all season after tweaking his calf Aug. 6 and then battling Achilles tendinitis in both of his legs, with the latter injury being the greater concern at this time. The 28-year-old seems to have made strong progress over the past few weeks, and he'll take another step forward when he gets in some on-field work during the 49ers' bye week. Since his activity during the upcoming week won't count as official practice time, the 49ers will wait until next Monday to possibly (or likely) designate him for return from injured reserve, which will open up a 21-day evaluation window. The 49ers will then release their first Week 10 injury report next Wednesday, when it will be known whether McCaffrey is practicing on a limited basis or without restrictions. Assuming McCaffrey is able to ramp up over the next two weeks with no setbacks, he should be ready to suit up against the Buccaneers, though the 49ers may not be keen on giving him a full workload in what would be his first game since Super Bowl LVIII last February.