Christian McCaffrey may be on track to make his season debut Nov. 10 vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers If nothing goes wrong between now and then.

But the 49ers are being extremely cautious around McCaffrey and still haven’t given a firm timeline for his return. Here’s what head coach Kyle Shanahan had to say about McCaffrey on Monday, courtesy of the 49ers public relations department.

Q: Is there a chance RB Christian McCaffrey could also return after the Bye and play against the Buccaneers?

SHANAHAN: “It depends on how this week goes. It hasn’t had any setbacks, so it looks like we’re on the right track. He’ll be hitting hard this week while we’re away and doing some training simulations for himself. As long as everything goes well, hopefully we’ll have him back in training next week.”

Q How difficult has it been to rein in Christian McCaffrey, keep him from working too hard and make sure his return is on schedule?

SHANAHAN: “I think it was tough at first when we did that in training camp and then felt like he was going to be ready for Week 1. Then once you decide to put it on IR I think it’s pretty easy. So we decided to do it because we knew it was going to take at least a month and we shut it down for a while and now we’re slowly starting to pick it up and things are going well. It will be nice to have it back now, hopefully.”

Question: So your plan is to open his window for bonus practice on that Monday?

SHANAHAN: “If everything goes well, if he has a good week this week.”

Question: Is there an expectation for Christian to return when he returns? That it will ramp up to the point where you can take on the standard workload?

SHANANAN: “No, our expectation is just to see how he does when he comes back and evaluate him as he goes. Of course, the hope is that everything will return to normal and be perfect, which is what we’re all striving for. But you have to play it smart and take it every day. What we see with our own eyes, what he tells us, will be what we constantly work on.”