Will Christian McCaffrey be ready when 49ers play Chiefs in Week 7?

Christian McCaffrey is eligible to return to the active roster. Now the question for both the San Francisco 49ers and their upcoming slate of opponents is whether or not it will happen.

McCaffrey, the best running back in football and the most effective weapon on a loaded 49ers offense, has been dealing with issues to his calf and Achilles (tendonitis) since training camp. The team has kept him out of the entire preseason as well as every regular season game since then on injured reserve.

Being on IR means that he's eligible to return to the active roster after Week 4, but the 49ers left him on the list for their Week 5 meeting against the Arizona Cardinals. Reports are emerging saying he'll also remain there after a short week for a Thursday Night Football game in Week 6 against the Buffalo Bills.

The 49ers could be without their biggest offensive weapon when they face the Chiefs in a couple of weeks.

RIght now, the very next game in which McCaffrey's status is still up in the air would be the team's game against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 7. What makes things interesting here is that the 49ers will be coming off of a mini-bye of sorts before that game after having played on Thursday. In addition, McCaffrey is already back in practice and reportedly feeling well getting back in action.

Without McCaffrey, the 49ers run game hasn't missed a beat with Jordan Mason taking over the majority of reps out of the backfield. He has 91 rushes for 447 yards and 3 scores on the ground and over 504 total yards from scrimmage. That's a good number for the first quarter of the season for a former undrafted free agent from Georgia Tech who's never had more than 300 rushing yards in an NFL season.

There's a lot of runway between now and then in Week 7 for the Chiefs, including a game against the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football and then an early bye. However, all eyes will be on this game given its status as a rematch of last winter's Super Bowl.