Games with Names - Dudes on Christian McCaffrey

Episode Date: April 11, 2026

We're covering San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey! Gronk, and Julian edelman discuss what makes CMC so great and some of their favorite stories.Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Serving Pancakes podcast, conversations about volleyball go beyond the court. Today we have a little best friend compatibility test. Okay. How long have we been best friends? This is the day we met. As the League 1 volleyball season heads towards its final stretch, there's no better time to tune in. You'll hear unfiltered analysis, behind-the-scenes stories and conversations with leaders making an impact across the sport. Whether you're following the final push of love season or just love the game, serving

pancakes brings you closer to the action and the people shaping the future of volleyball. Open your free I-heart radio app, search Serving Pancakes and listen now. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Ready for a different take on Formula One? Look no further than No Grip, a new podcast tackling the culture of motor racing's most coveted series. Join me, Lily Herman, as we dive into the under-explored pockets of F1, including the astrology of the current grid, the story of the sports most consequential driver strike, and plenty of other mishap scandals and sagas that have made Formula One a delightful, decadent, dumpster fire for more than 75 years.

Listen to No Grip on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. How can this have happened in City Hall? Somebody tell me that. A shocking public murder. This is one of the most dramatic events that really ever happened in New York City politics. I scream. Get down. Get down. Those are shots. A tragedy that's now forgotten. And a mystery. That may or may not have been political.

That may have been about sex. Listen to Rorschach, murder at City Hall, on the... I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. My latest episode is with Noah Kahn, the singer-songwriter behind the multi-platinum global hit stick season and one of the biggest voices in music today. Talking about the mental illness stuff, it used to be this thing that I was ashamed of. Getting to talk about this is not common for me.

Right now, I need it more than ever. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the IHeart Radio, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Dudes on Dudes. I'm Julian Edelman and we're bringing you one of our favorite segments from the show talking about one of our favorite dudes in the NFL. Let's go. But this guy right here, absolute savage when the ball is in his hands.

What I really love about him is that he kind of creates his own holes because he's so good at cutting. Yeah. That's what makes him stand out from any other player, any other running back that's, you know, in the game right now or was in the game and that are legends because Christian McCaffrey's on his way to be a legend. If he can just stay healthy and keep producing the way that he's producing. But he just can cut so quick and he's so elusive with the cut and makes it look so harmless and so easy. That kind of opens up holes for him. And I actually talked about it on Fox.

And that's what I said about him. I was like, hey, look at him go when he came back this year for a couple of the games. When he cuts, he opens up and draws a lane. And he goes right through the hole because of what he's doing. And then how he long after was like, really, he's really doing that, actually. And we looked at some film. And he would be going this way. And the way that he cut over to the left, there was all of a sudden a lane because of the way that he cut in the way that the defenders were moving.

And just how freaking gravity works when someone's going or what's it called when you're in motion going that way? inertia. inertia. Yeah, inertia. inertia and then he would just cause him to have his own hole and he would just burst right through that hole then because he just has so much explosiveness and i believe that's what makes him such a great running back is that he can create his own lane i mean that explosiveness comes from his grandpa his grandpa was like a uh olympic sprinter his mom's played at stanford soccer player

dad's ed mcalfrey i mean i mean how many how many years that ed mcalfrey play in the i think he played 12 years in the league one three super Super Bowls, one with the Niners, two with the Broncos. I used to love Ed McCaffrey. He used to cut out his shoes. You know, he was like a grinder, receiver. And this guy, like, he was born into this. You know, he's got the gene makeup, which is crazy

because his other brothers that played in the league. I think he has one right now at the commanders. Wide receiver. Yeah, yeah. He had another one as well that's coaching now. I think they're, like, taller like Ed and Christians, like just a shit brick house, like a ball of muscle, just five foot. You see him?

He's like off-season training and stuff. He does all like the track workouts. And you see his explosive, his explosiveness and his movement. And like he works all that shit. And he just looks like a sprinter. He does. But he doesn't play like a sprinter. He plays.

He's an elite football player because he has, like you were saying, he's got great vision. You know, he can recognize over pursuit, put his foot in the ground, cut back. And then he has the explosive. to cut through the traffic. He's also great out of the backfield. We always talk about how good he is as a receiver. I mean, and he's pretty much the focal point to the San Francisco 49ers.

They go off of him because of his versatility, because of his effectiveness in the run game. Like, he's really great at that, but you can also line him up anywhere so you can play the personnel game against defense. And, like, he's what makes him go. It's been tragedy, you know, tragic to see his year this year with his injuries and the Achilles and all that.

And it's hurt the San Francisco 49ers. Tremendously. And then also talking about his family and just how legendary of athletes, his whole entire family is his mom also played at the University of Stanford and played soccer there. And that's probably what led him to go to the University of Stanford as well. Smart guy. Yeah, I was just going to say that guy just doesn't have athletic ability. Obviously, he's smart as well.

I mean, I think Stanford's the Harvard of the West Coast. Isn't that correct? Yeah. That's what I've heard from others. I mean, I'm an East Coaster, so I only know about Harvard. I grew up right there. But I only learned about Stanford once I got into the PAC 10 when I went to the University of Arizona. But Stanford was a school I would never be going to, Jules.

Same with Harvard. I think that's bullshit. I think you could. I could if I really tried. But I wasn't really, I didn't really have school smarts. There's difference between school smarts and street smarts, Jewel. I didn't really care to know that I knew the whole entire dictionary or history book. Like it wasn't just my forte.

But you just because you didn't care about it. That's right. Good point. Because if you care about it. I could have got into Stanford. I mean, I've seen you practice. I appreciate that. You study pretty hard.

Thank you, man. Well, come into this. Rob will come with his little notepad and shit. Look at his voice apps. He's been taking notes for the guys that were doing. Like, when you care about something, you work hard. He's had some crazy, crazy, crazy. crazy games.

He was like the first player to go run for a touchdown, throw for a touchdown, and catch a touchdown since LT did it, which is crazy. He's just Mr. Versatile. I mean, he had the third most scrimmage yards

in a single season in NFL history. I mean, the fantasy points this guy was throwing up. He was winning fantasy games for individuals, you know, just by himself. a 471 in comparison to you had a 430 what do you have a 3 30 i mean it's the second best season of all time that he had you know when he went you know for all those yards what was it last year in san francisco that year there's a second best fantasy season in all of football after lt after his year

in 2006 so 2019 i mean this guy is like you said he has great vision he's super strong so it's hard to take him down just one-on-one i mean a defensive tackle can take him down one-on-one but when a lineback or a safety comes at him, he can make him miss very easily. And also they just bounce right off of him too if he has his balance on. If he's not coming off of a, you know, one footstep or somewhere getting hit.

So it's very hard to tackle him. Great receiving back as well. You remember him bowling with Cam? You were when he was just going over though. No. Yeah, right there. No. I was on fire.

Hold on. All right. No, go back again. Yeah. No, no, yeah, right there. Yeah, I mean, like I said, he was strong. I mean, no one can take him down one. A defensive tackle could, but he would probably make a defense of tackle miss if they were coming after him.

Solid after the contact, obviously. That's what makes him strong, you know. He's a strong player. That's what makes that elite, you know. And he's a grinder. No doubt about that. Loves to work out. Loves to have that.

Yeah. The off-season workouts he's been doing. It looks like a fucking green god. And he's just, he makes sudden moving. as well. That sudden step, very decisive. That's what makes you a great running back. That's what makes you great going through the holes. And that's just what makes you a great football player is just being sudden and decisive. And that's what he is. Rob. Yeah. So what if what if like Brian Dayball was like your babysitter? Brian Dayball. Yeah, because he was my babysitter. He was my

coach for three years. He will he babysat me every freaking meeting. I'm just saying. What if he was your babysitter when you were like 11 or 12. How much smarter of a football player you think you'd be? Dude, I'd be a genius because Brian Daible was a genius as well as engraving football into your body and love talking football. I would have been the smartest player probably in history if I had Brian Daibble as my babysitter growing up. What if Kyle Shanahan was your babysitter? You'd probably be Christian McCaffrey. Exactly. So smart. Well, that is why. So Brian Daibald babysitting me if I was growing up is like, Kyle Shanahan was

freaking CMC's babysitter growing up as a kid. Well, because, you know, Ed McCaffrey played for the Broncos, won two Super Bowls with them, Mike Shanahan coach, son,

Kyle Shanahan ball boy, probably hanging around with all the athletes and stuff. Wow. That's crazy. That is crazy. So he's got football in his blood. I mean,

he's got specimen in his blood. He's got football in his blood. I mean, he's had the hype his whole life. And he's always, he's always surpassed the hype. The one thing, what? Oh.

Oh, yeah. I keep going to what you're going with. Yeah. Also, you know, like, it's not just him. He has his brother. He plays for the commanders. What's his name? He's got Luke.

He's got Luke McCaffrey that plays with the commanders. I mean, how cool is it to have a brother in the National Football League? But, you know, you were, the Christian one, Christian type brother, because, you know, and then, you know, the, because I was the baller. Well, there's, there's superstars. I know what you made.

And then there's NFL players. Yes. You know, and then how, how do you think your younger brother feels? Actually, I love my younger brother. He's great. But, like, do they always like, what do they think about, like, you're the gronk? You're literally, there's literally, like, little, my daughter knows you as the gronk. Mm-hmm.

And, like, you're the youngest brother. Like, how does that? Well, first off, if you're the superstar brother, how do you treat the younger brother? Well, first off, it wasn't even about that. It was just super cool that even have a brother in the league. And I actually had three brothers in the league. Dan and Chris, they're my older brothers. And I played with Dan in New England for like a couple games during that second year that I had the fantasy year as well.

My best fantasy football season ever and actually best fantasy football season ever by a tight end as well. So my brother, Dan, played with us for a little bit. and then Chris actually played fullback. He played for the Broncos, the Chargers, and also the Cowboys and Colts. He played about three and a half years. No, he was not on practice squad. So that's the only one I didn't play with.

Glenn, who's younger than me, four years younger than me. He was on the practice squad for us for one year. He started on the bills, actually. He got cut at the beginning of the year. I think after the first or second game that we picked him up on the practice squad. And he was a kind of an all-purpose h-back. You know, he could play fullback. He'd go go out in the slot, you know, position.

And he was a great, you know, practice squad player for us and was actually ready at any time to get called up. But he was on the practice squad that year that we beat the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl. So he, my youngest brother has a ring. But, dude, let me tell you, it was the coolest experience having my brothers on the team and not just even having them on the team. Just to have them in the NFL, man, it just makes you that much bigger of a fan of the NFL because you're just paying so much attention. in detail to what your brother's doing because you want him to be successful. You want him to have success. And you're going to tune into him because it just makes it that much more special to know

that you know that person and you just don't know them. It's your freaking brother. It's your family member. So super cool, man. It's the best. Do you remember, do you remember like when you guys were kids dreaming about being in the NFL and then do you ever remember a specific time? I wonder if they think about that as well, you know what I mean?

Because there's a time when you guys are all playing football. football in the backyard where, you know, there's no rules. You're just tackling each other. But you're like, do you have, did you guys have that? 100% too. We always dreamed about making it to the NFL. And actually when you're in the backyard, you were never like your own person, you know, you're never yourself.

You're always that guy that you looked up to. So I loved Eric Molds, bro. So like Eric Moll is wide receiver Buffalo Bills. So like every time I split out wide like in the backyard, I'd be like, Eric Moll is coming at you, baby. I'm about to score. And then I catch you a big Eric Moll's. I'm Eric Moles, here I come for you.

You know, you're never yourself, you know, when growing up as a kid, you were always your hero, which was always cool. I mean, you guys are kind of the same. You had an Olympic, you had an Olympic grandfather that was like a bicycist. Yeah, he's a bicyclist. Yeah, that's what it was. He's right here. Yeah. Oh, where?

So he actually, just speaking about it, because the Olympics were a hundred years ago in Paris when he actually participated in that cycling, you know, year in the Olympics. and that was 100 years ago because the Olympics were in Paris again this year, 2004. So it became a big story that my great-grandfather was in the Olympics in 1924 as a cyclist. He became and he ended up in 45th place actually. And now I found out why. Because the French cheated. They made him change his bike. They said his bike wasn't legal in 1924.

the bike he's been training on, the bike he's been riding with. They made him switch out his bike, and the French gave him a bike to ride on in 1924 that he's never ridden on before in his life. Or else he would have gotten fricking first place. They knew this world could not handle the Grancowski name becoming that big time in 1924. So therefore the French dethorned him.

Putte. And gave him a bike that wasn't working. I swear the tires were flat. In French. So the tires were flat. But yeah. Yeah, we go way back just like the McCaffrey family. Wow.

Wow. So what is McCaffrey, Jules? Come on now. What come on. We've, let's categorize him. Oh, yeah, because Shannon's Sharp. All right. All right.

All right. I mean, being around the, the, being around the Broncos organization as a kid, you got the picture with Shannon Sharp, Uncle Shannon. I mean, that had to be so cool.

I mean, it was just in CMC's DNA, just growing up, just a culture that was around him as well, his family, his dad was in the NFL, that, you know, Christian sitting on Shannon Sharp's lap. I mean, he just saw it growing up. He saw what it took. And that's when Christian McCaffrey kind of knew he was going to make it to the NFL because he was already so much better than, you know, everyone as well. And at seven years old, what do he do again that just kind of just blew up now that that's always talked about seven years old seven years old

what did you do he freaking scored a touchdown in the mascot game in the mascot game against a little kid as a little kid he already knew he was going pro he's around all the pro players already yeah he's dominating on the field that's just a pop warner he scored a touchdown on these guys and he pulled out a look at a little wait come on what do you do

come on jules you know what he did he pulled the sharpie out and signed it come on the t-o he did the t-o before T.O. did the T.O. No, is this, it's probably, it's probably Tio did it and then he did it. No, he did it. What year is this? 2003. T.O. did it like way after 2000.

No way. I think Tio did it in like, what did Tio do it? Oh, so he did the, he did the T.O. after T.O. But all right, I mean, to do that as a seven-year-old kid. He still runs the same. You know what that makes you?

Wait up. Makes you a beast. Wait up. see it. Wait up. Look at that. Had that Sharpie ready. Does anyone have that ball?

Does anyone have the sign ball? That was a quick signature though. And then he just tossed it into the stands. Wow. He was a, he was bred to do it. He was bred to do it. All right.

All right. Time. So what kind of dude is Christian McCaffrey? I mean, after watching that clip as a seven-year-old kid, I kind of already know what he is, man. There's no doubt about it. It's in his blood.

He's got a pedigree. Heisman finalist. Freaking all-time fantasy guy, top two. I mean, he was supposed to do what he's doing. He's a fucking stud. He is a stud. Only a stud whips out that marker at seven years old. Seven years old.

And signs of football and just tosses it into the stands. Confidence, though. You see the confidence in the kid? Knowing you're going to go pro. He didn't, even at that age. He wasn't John. He was like very professional of them. It was a professional freaking T.O.

celebration toss. On three, what is he? One, two, three. Stod. Thanks for listening. Catch brand new episodes of Dudes on dudes on YouTube, Apple, Spotify,

and everywhere else you get your podcasts. And if you enjoy this, here's a snippet of an episode I think you'll love. Ledan Thomason. And what do you think of when you hear of the name,

the legend, LaDanthamson, Jules? What do I think I think of... Hold on. Let me answer this question. I think of the San Diego charges and why they're still not in San Diego

and why they are in Los Angeles, sharing a stadium with the freaking whatever other team, with the Rams, when they can be in San Diego's tail. Because when I think of LT, I think of San Diego and how he put that city on the map. Dude, he really did.

I think of just swag. Swaggy. I think of his dark visor. I remember as a little kid doing the touchdown dance. Like he scored so many touchdowns. It just seemed like he scored two, three touchdowns every game. Like, and he literally did. If you, everyone was an LT fan.

I mean, how could you not be an LT fan? I mean, he was so elusive on the field. Like, he, he was a guy that made you jump off of your seat. Even if you weren't a San Diego Chargers fan, even if your team was facing his team, it didn't matter. You appreciated who LT was out on the football field. and what's so great about him is that he was so good in the passing game as well. He never had a thousand yard rushing season and a thousand yards.

Low-keyed past game guy. Receiving, you know, season. But like you said, he was super low-key in that. And he had these two routes that kind of made him the player that he was in the receiving game. Yeah, you know, we all know as him as the rusher and how he made everyone miss. He had a solid, solid, stiff arm. You know, he always kept his feet moving as well after he got hit. So that's kind of what made him break the tackle every single time

is that when you keep your feet moving, well, he was like the guy that did that the best. But what made him super special in the receiving game was that he had this seam route out of the backfield. I know you've seen it before. We were watching it like seven of them, eight of them. And somehow Drew Brees and Philip Rivers

would find him every time going up that seam route. It was a mismatch every time he would go versus that linebacker or that safety that was supposed to be covering him. But then also right off of it, He had another route that would branch off of the seam. He countered it. He countered it. And that's why it kept all these guys guessing.

He was so quick, too, at planting his foot and breaking out of the seam that no one can get him on the angle route either. So it's kind of like you thought he was going to run up the seam, run up the hash and boom. He was playing his foot and he would just angle right across the field. And boom, the quarterback would just dump it to him. It was just an easy 10 to 15 yards or possibly a touchdown because every time LT touched the ball, it could possibly be a touchdown because he was that great. On the Serving Pancakes podcast, conversations about volleyball go beyond the court. Today we have a little best friend compatibility test. Okay. How long have we been best friends?

This is the day we met. As the League One volleyball season heads towards its final stretch, there's no better time to tune in. You'll hear unfiltered analysis, behind the scene stories, and conversations with leaders making an impact across the sport. Whether you're following the final push of love season or just love the game, serving pancakes brings you closer to the action and the people shaping the future of volleyball.

Open your free IHeart Radio app. Search Serving Pancakes and listen now. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Ready for a different take on Formula One? Look no further than No Grip, a new podcast tackling the culture of motor racing's most coveted series. Join me, Lily Herman, as we dive into the under-explored pockets of F1, including the astrology of the current grid, the story of the sports most consequential driver strike, and plenty of other mishap scandals and sagas that have made Formula One a delightful, decadent,

dumpster fire for more than 75 years. Listen to No Grip on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ten, ten shots five, in City Hall building. How could this have happened in City Hall? Somebody tell me that. A shocking public murder. This is one of the most dramatic events that really ever happened in New York City politics. I scream, get down, get down.

Those are shots. A tragedy that's now forgotten. End of mystery. That may or may not have been political. That may have been about sex. Listen to Rorschach, murder at City Hall, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. My latest episode is with Noah Kahn, the singer-songwriter behind the multi-platinum global hit Stick Season, and one of the biggest voices in music today.

Talking about the mental illness stuff, it used to be this thing that I was ashamed of. Getting to talk about this is not common for me. Right now, I need it more than ever. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Chetty on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.