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Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff Writer
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — In what is the most significant step he has taken in his recovery from Achilles tendinitis, San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey returned to practice Monday.
The Niners officially opened McCaffrey’s 21-day practice window Monday afternoon, which means he has three weeks to be activated from injured reserve to the 53-man roster.
Sure enough, McCaffrey was on the practice field and warming up with his teammates during a roughly two-minute viewing period open to media. For the better part of the past few weeks, the Niners have pointed to this week for McCaffrey’s potential return as he continued to work through the tendinitis that kept him out of the team’s first eight games.
While McCaffrey and the 49ers will have time to see how he fares in practice before putting him back in any games, there has been optimism around the team that he will be available Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers so long as this week goes well.
Before San Francisco took off on its bye last week, coach Kyle Shanahan again suggested McCaffrey would begin practicing on Monday so long as McCaffrey’s simulated practice work last week came with no setbacks.
“As long as it all goes good, hopefully we’ll get him back in practice next week,” Shanahan said on Oct. 28.
McCaffrey originally went on injured reserve on Sept. 14 after dealing with the tendinitis and a calf injury that began hampering him in early August. While McCaffrey recovered from the calf issue, the Achilles tendinitis lingers and eventually led McCaffrey to travel to Germany to meet with a specialist while the 49ers were in Los Angeles to play the Rams on Sept. 22.
Shanahan indicated last week that McCaffrey’s workload when he returns will also be based on how he looks in practice.
“The expectation is to see how he is when he gets back and then evaluate him as he goes,” Shanahan said last week. “Of course, the hope is that everything just goes back to normal and it’s perfect. That’s what we’re all striving for, but you’ve got to play that out smartly and you’ve got to evaluate that each day. What we see with our own eyes, what he tells us. That’ll be something we constantly are working through.”
The 49ers also opened the practice window for offensive lineman Jon Feliciano on Monday. Feliciano has missed the first half of the season with a knee injury.