San Francisco 49ers Trade for All-Pro RB Christian McCaffrey
Oct 20, 2022, 8:44 PM | Updated: Oct 21, 2022, 8:15 am
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 12: Christian McCaffrey #22 of the Carolina Panthers reacts after a teammates' touchdown reception against the New York Jets during the second quarter at Bank of America Stadium on September 12, 2021 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
(Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
A bombshell out of nowhere. The San Francisco 49ers have traded for Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. San Francisco will send Carolina second, third, and fourth-round picks in 2023, plus a fifth-rounder in 2024 for the running back’s services.
McCaffrey, 26, has been one of the premier offensive weapons in the NFL since being drafted in 2017. Riddled with injuries the last few years, his last full season was at an All-Pro level, racking up almost 2400 yards from scrimmage and 19 touchdowns in 2019.
49ers' RB Christian McCaffrey is scheduled to fly to San Francisco on Friday, when he will meet his new teammates and begin to learn the new playbook. It will be challenging to have him in uniform Sunday vs. the Chiefs, but McCaffrey did go to Stanford and anything possible.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 21, 2022
Unfortunately injuries have hampered him, playing a combined 16 games the last three seasons.
CMC has been a focal point of Carolina’s offense this season, moving the chains for 670 scrimmage yards through the first six weeks of the season. He has three TDs as well.
Already firing their head coach, Carolina is looking to trade most of their key players for draft compensation in hope of rebuilding the organization from top to bottom. The Panthers had already traded wide receiver Robbie Anderson to the Arizona Cardinals earlier in the week, McCaffrey is now the next player to be exiled.
On the flip side, the 49ers suggested that they’d be active in there trade market with two weeks until the deadline, hinting Wednesday that if a deal could be had, they’d make it.
“I know we look into everything, so if there’s something that makes sense that we can pull off, I know we’ll never hesitate to do that,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said Wednesday.
McCaffrey attended Stanford University from 2014 to 2016, breaking Barry Sanders’ NCAA single-season record with 3,861 all-purpose yards in 2015. Now coming back to his second home, this seems like a perfect fit for Shanahan’s position-less offense.
