Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey has seen his draft stock climb considerably over the past two months, and this is happening in spite of a curious development. Pro Football Talk is reporting that McCaffrey declined all requests to conduct a private workout.
Walter Football tracks prospect visits, workouts, and any other known interactions with teams. For McCaffrey, they mention Combine meetings with the San Francisco 49ers, Denver Broncos, and Oakland Raiders, and official visits with the Broncos, Carolina Panthers, and Washington.
Among first round prospects, that is among the least amount of interactions. It is worth noting Malik Hooker also had no workouts reported. Walter Football lists him as having a Combine meeting with Washington, and official visits with the Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, and New York Jets. Hooker had surgery on a labrum issue before the Combine, so that is likely why he did not have workouts with teams, and just had the visits.
The 49ers have had or scheduled at least 16 players for official visits, and at least 19 workouts. They might end up drafting some players from that group, but more than likely, most of their draft picks will have had no private workout or visit with the team. There will be some with no contact at all, and several with limited interactions. It is possible the team drafts a lot of players they’ve had more meetings with, but that is something we’ll have to wait and see when it comes to the new brain trust.