See more of our coverage in your search results.
Playbook: Commanders at 49ers
Take a look at the Commanders’ depth chart.
Find the wide receivers.
Peruse the list of names. Keep going. Further. Way, way … way down there.
Recognize that one?
Yeah, the game-day ensemble for Ed and Lisa McCaffrey won’t be so simple on Monday.
“I don’t know what they’re gonna do,” 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey chuckled this week. “They might just go all black — neutral.”
A 13-year pro, Ed raised all four of his sons as football players. Christian would often team up or face off against first-born Max, 2 years his elder, and third-born Dylan, 3 years younger.
One memorable clip surfaced of Christian, at 7 years old, scoring a touchdown as the youngest player on his older brother’s pee-wee team in a game at Mile High Stadium, where his father played most of his career. The real kicker? The celebration — and the competition.
Christian dodged a field of NFL mascots, pulled out a Sharpie to sign the football and tossed it into the crowd after scoring — clearly a sign of things to come.
“Those were days,” McCaffrey grinned, “I used to be way cooler.”
But one pairing required both brothers to make it to the NFL to share the field.
Finally, on Monday, Christian will face off against his youngest brother, Luke McCaffrey.
“He’s the only brother I’ve never gotten to play with or against, so I think this completes the cycle,” McCaffrey said. “I know it’s a different uniform, but [I’m] proud of him and everything that he’s done.”
Luke has a long way to go to catch Christian’s 103 career touchdowns (and counting), but the youngest McCaffrey brother, now 25, has carved out a nice little career of his own.
You may not see him catching passes from Jayden Daniels — all 29 of his career receptions came in 2024 and 2025 — but McCaffrey has been the Commanders’ primary kick returner.
In his career, McCaffrey has returned 41 kicks for 1,191 yards — or a little over half the total yards from scrimmage his older brother put up last season on 413 touches for the 49ers.
Kyle Shanahan made it a point to take some of the load off McCaffrey’s back and has kept his word, holding him off the field for almost one-third of the 49ers’ snaps so far.
When it’s a family affair, though, expect both brothers to want to get involved.
“Obviously,” Christian said, “there’s nostalgia with that.”
Marquee Matchup: LB Fred Warner vs. QB Jayden Daniels
Mobile quarterbacks have caused issues for the 49ers, and there’s arguably no bigger threat to run than the Commanders signal-caller. Daniels has averaged 50.8 yards per game on the ground since debuting in 2024, the most of any NFL quarterback. On the flip side, the 49ers have allowed QBs to run for 50 or more yards four times since 2024 and are 1-3 in those games. Daniels wasn’t dissuaded in his first game back from an elbow injury, taking off nine times for 103 yards and a pair of TDs last week. There’s no better middle linebacker in the NFL, but the 49ers will need to ask even more of Warner this week to contain the Commanders’ speedy QB while linebacking partner Dre Greenlaw serves a one-game suspension.
The score: 49ers 30, Commanders 13
Brock Purdy has proven he doesn’t need any other targets as long as he’s got Mike Evans, George Kittle and McCaffrey. After more than holding his own against the NFL’s top-ranked passing defense, he’s going to have a field day against the league’s second-worst unit at stopping the air attack. There’s been nothing that has gotten in the 49ers’ way so far, and the lowly Commanders aren’t going to stop them from improving to 6-0.
Key stat: 17-1
49ers’ record with Purdy when favored by more than a touchdown. The spread against Washington is 7 ½ points.