With all of the injuries the San Francisco 49ers have suffered this year, it’s been on the few healthy soldiers they’ve got to pull some extra weight. And arguably, no one has carried more of that load for the boys in the Bay than Christian McCaffrey. Yet he has still found time to support the troops when he’s not supporting his teammates.
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In fact, McCaffrey has been named the 49ers’ nominee for this year’s Salute to Service Award. The award has been part of the NFL’s Salute to Service initiative since its inception in 2011, which reflects the league’s “ongoing commitment to honor, empower, and connect with U.S. service members, veterans, and their families.”
Last year, McCaffrey’s teammate, tight end George Kittle, was the recipient. This year, the running back hopes to make it back-to-back winners for San Francisco. CMC says his dedication to supporting servicemen and women and raising awareness about their struggles began with, of all things, a statistic.
“For me, it started when I read [a report] that said 22 veterans commit suicide every day. And that hit me hard. That’s every day. And I thought, I wonder how I could make a difference in chopping that number down and hopefully getting it to zero eventually,” McCaffrey said in an interview.
A study in 2022 actually suggested that there are likely twice as many veterans—44—taking their own lives every day than CMC thought. Another recent study concluded that veterans continue to commit suicide at a much higher rate than nonveterans. McCaffrey is aiming to help change that through a new initiative being run by his foundation.
The All-Pro RB takes veterans through a nine-month “trial run” wherein they are basically treated like NFL players. They go through blood panels and regular check-ups so they can get the best understanding of what’s going on with their minds and bodies. That then allows CMC and his foundation to better pinpoint how they can help these men and women.
“We do blood work panels, full-body MRIs, functional scans. We try to find every metric we can that’s going on with these guys, these men and women, and figure out exactly what’s wrong. And when you know what’s wrong, and you know the data, and you can kinda take a look under the car… You can take a step in the right direction figuring out how exactly you want to help these people,” the RB said.
CMC talks the importance of his initiative to help military members and their families.
Vote for our Salute to Service nominee 🗳️: https://t.co/I89Y9iTFwV pic.twitter.com/cIVeGkf6L3
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) November 23, 2025
As McCaffrey said, “It’s not an overnight thing.” It’s all about pushing on and “stacking the time and the effort” to help veterans who are so often forgotten by the rest of American society.
The initiative is run through his foundation, 23 and Troops. The foundation focuses generally on helping active-duty military and veterans to overcome trauma and PTSD through physical and mental rehab.
Fans can vote for their pick for the Salute to Service Award online, with the winner being announced at the NFL Honors show in February.
