Not Again! 49ers Stars Injured In Way-Too-Common Development

The early slate of Sunday games in Week 6 of the NFL got off to an unfortunate start with several star players exiting games for their respective teams, headlined by the 49ers.

For San Francisco, the team lost two crucial members of its stacked group of skill position players on offense. After scoring a touchdown earlier in the game against the Cleveland Browns, Christian McCaffrey exited the game with an oblique injury. The star running back previously played in just 10 total games between the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Additionally, standout wide receiver Deebo Samuel also left the game with a shoulder injury. Per Jordan Schultz, X-rays came back negative for the Pro Bowler, who also missed four games a season ago.

The 49ers have developed an unfortunate trend of losing key players to injury as the team gets hot in recent years. Just a year ago, the team crumbled in the NFC Championship game after an injury to quarterback Brock Purdy opened the door for the Philadelphia Eagles to dominate the 49ers, who lost previous starters in Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance earlier in the season. Even with the injury bug, the 49ers have made the NFC Championship game in three of the last four seasons.

On a league-wide level, quarterbacks Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields and Ryan Tannehill also suffered injuries on Sunday as well.