SANTA CLARA, Calif. – If everything goes according to plan in Monday night’s opener against the New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey believes he will not only play, but also get his usual amount of snaps.

After missing most of training camp with a calf and Achilles tendon injury, McCaffrey returned to practice on Tuesday and also participated in Thursday and Friday’s workouts.

On Friday, McCaffrey spoke to Bay Area media for the first time since his injury, and while he didn’t give detailed answers on health-related topics, he made it clear what he expects for Monday.

When asked if there was any doubt that he would play against the Jets, McCaffrey simply said, “No.”

When asked if he would return to his normal, heavy workload, McCaffrey said, “I hope so.”

Niners general manager John Lynch told San Francisco radio station KNBR on Friday that McCaffrey would be “out there and ready to play” against the Jets, provided he made it to the end of the training week.

Niners coach Kyle Shanahan first announced on August 6 that McCaffrey had suffered a calf strain and noted that the star running back would miss the entire preseason and several weeks of training.

And that’s exactly what happened, because McCaffrey didn’t officially return to training until the “bonus training” on Tuesday, even though he had already been running and working on the side for a few weeks beforehand.

Despite being officially classified as restricted in recent days, McCaffrey was able to move around the training pitch without any visible restrictions and said he was feeling “much better” on Friday.

“He looks like Christian to me,” said Chris Foerster, the running game coordinator. “You have to practice. The guys who haven’t practiced aren’t rusty, but there’s always something that changes because they haven’t practiced every day. It’s just that daily grind, day in and day out. But he’s looked good.”

Since the Niners didn’t have to release an official injury report until Thursday, the addition of the Achilles tendon to McCaffrey’s injury description caused some confusion. Shanahan said Thursday that the Achilles tendon is related to the calf and is part of the original injury that benched McCaffrey in early August.

When asked if there were any long-term concerns, McCaffrey said the Achilles tendon was “nothing to worry about.” In an interview in mid-August, he said he would have been able to play if there had been a regular-season or playoff game.

His teammates expect a strong addition to the 1,459 rushing yards, 564 receiving yards and 21 total touchdowns that McCaffrey achieved in 2023 on his way to the NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award.

“He holds himself to incredibly high standards,” tight end George Kittle said. “He takes this incredibly seriously … so I think Christian is going to have another great year. I think he’s probably going to compete for MVP.”

While McCaffrey recovered, Jordan Mason emerged as the primary running back, a strong indication that he would be the first to take any snaps McCaffrey might miss. The Niners also have rookie Isaac Guerendo and veteran Patrick Taylor Jr. at running back. Guerendo also had limited practice this week due to a groin injury.

McCaffrey said he isn’t concerned with anything else right now other than preparing for the Jets and the start of the regular season.

“You just have to take it one play at a time,” McCaffrey said. “I don’t like to look at what’s in front of me. Every play has its own life. Just do what you have to do on every play, take care of the things you can control and move on from there.”