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Christian McCaffrey and Kyle Shanahan have become one of the NFL’s most recognizable player-coach combinations with the San Francisco 49ers.
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Their relationship, however, didn’t begin when McCaffrey arrived in San Francisco. It didn’t begin when he entered the NFL, either.
The connection between McCaffrey and Shanahan goes all the way back to the 49ers star’s childhood, thanks to two families with deep roots in professional football. In fact, long before Shanahan was designing plays for McCaffrey, he occasionally had a much different responsibility.
He helped look after him.
Yes, McCaffrey’s future NFL head coach once babysat him.
It’s a remarkable piece of their shared history as McCaffrey and the 49ers prepare to face the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday.
Kyle Shanahan Knew Christian McCaffrey Long Before 49ers
The connection started with their fathers.
Christian’s father, Ed McCaffrey, spent nine seasons with the Denver Broncos and became a major part of the team’s success during the late 1990s. He won two Super Bowls with Denver while playing for head coach Mike Shanahan.
Kyle was Mike’s son.
Christian was Ed’s son.
That brought the two families together years before anyone could have predicted what would eventually happen in San Francisco.
After the 49ers acquired McCaffrey from the Carolina Panthers during the 2022 season, Shanahan discussed just how far back his relationship with the family went.
“I knew him a little bit when he was real young,” Shanahan said, according to the 49ers. “I knew his mom and dad very well.”
Shanahan also acknowledged occasionally babysitting McCaffrey when Christian was a child.
Decades later, the two found themselves together again under dramatically different circumstances.
This time, Shanahan wasn’t watching McCaffrey.
He was coaching him.
McCaffrey and Shanahan Families Share Rare NFL History
The connection goes deeper than a childhood anecdote. Ed McCaffrey played for Mike Shanahan in Denver. Christian McCaffrey now plays for Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco.
According to the 49ers, that made Ed and Christian one of only four father-son combinations in NFL history to play for a father-son coaching combination.
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The McCaffrey family’s athletic background is impressive on its own.
Christian’s mother, Lisa, played soccer at Stanford. Christian later attended Stanford and became one of college football’s biggest stars before the Panthers selected him with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.
His brothers also pursued high-level football careers.
Max McCaffrey reached the NFL as a wide receiver. Dylan McCaffrey played quarterback at Michigan before transferring to Northern Colorado. Luke McCaffrey transitioned from quarterback to wide receiver during his college career and was selected by the Washington Commanders in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Christian ultimately became the biggest NFL star of the group.
Christian McCaffrey, Kyle Shanahan Relationship Comes Full Circle
When San Francisco traded for McCaffrey in October 2022, it created an almost unbelievable full-circle moment.
The young boy Shanahan remembered from his family’s days in Denver was suddenly one of the most important players in his offense.
McCaffrey’s versatility also made him an ideal fit for Shanahan’s system. He could run between the tackles, catch passes out of the backfield, line up across the formation and create matchup problems for defenses.
Their football relationship has since become far more significant than the childhood connection that preceded it.
Still, that history makes their partnership one of the more unusual stories in the NFL.
Mike Shanahan coached Ed McCaffrey.
Kyle Shanahan occasionally helped look after Christian McCaffrey.
And decades later, Kyle and Christian wound up chasing championships together in San Francisco. Now their remarkable shared football story takes them all the way to Australia as the 49ers prepare for Thursday’s matchup with the Rams.
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This story was originally published September 10, 2026 at 3:45 PM.