Christian McCaffrey, 26, has battled injuries in each of the past three seasons, playing just 10 combined games from 2020-2021.
Christian McCaffrey : Trade rumors | Stats | Contract
McCaffrey is an American football running back for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL).
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born: | June 7, 1996 Castle Rock, Colorado |
| Height: | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Weight: | 205 lb (93 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school: | Regis Jesuit High School (Aurora, Colorado) Valor Christian (Highlands Ranch, Colorado) |
| College: | Stanford (2014–2016) |
| NFL Draft: | 2017 / Round: 1 / Pick: 8 |
He played college football at Stanford and was drafted by the Panthers eighth overall in the 2017 NFL Draft.
As a sophomore in 2015, McCaffrey was named AP College Football Player of the Year and was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. He holds the NCAA record for most all-purpose yards in a season, with 3,864.
McCaffrey holds numerous NFL and Panthers franchise records and is one of the three players ever to record 1,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season, doing so in 2019.
Christian McCaffrey trade rumors
McCaffrey, 26, has battled injuries in each of the past three seasons, playing just 10 combined games from 2020-2021.
When healthy, however, the two-time All-Pro has been one of the NFL’s top dual-threat backs, twice topping 100 catches.
He’s just two years removed from signing a four-year, $64 million extension with Carolina, and is due close to $20 million in each of the next two seasons, but any potential acquiring team would have the flexibility to release him with minimal penalty as early as 2023.
With the Panthers apparently hitting the reset button, and with the Bills reportedly having past interest in running back Christian McCaffrey, reports are emerging that the Bills and Panthers have spoken about McCaffrey.
And, of course, conflicting reports are emerging that they haven’t.
These things happen from time to time in the NFL. Whether it’s a plausible deniability or technically the truth or a flat-out lie, there are reasons for teams to tell reporters that nothing is happening, even if something is.
Stats
McCaffrey received an invitation to the NFL Combine as one of the top running back prospects entering the draft and completed all of the required combine drills and participated in positional drills.
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He attended Stanford’s Pro Day, but was satisfied with his combine numbers and only ran positional drills for the NFL scouts and representatives.
McCaffrey was projected to be a first round pick by the majority of NFL experts and analysts.
He was ranked the third best running back in the draft by Sports Illustrated, the fourth best running back by Pro Football Focus, and ranked the second best by NFLDraftScout.com and ESPN.
McCaffrey started the 2021 season promising with 177 scrimmage yards in Week 1 against the New York Jets and 137 scrimmage yards in Week 2 against the New Orleans Saints. In Week 3, McCaffrey suffered a hamstring injury that kept him out the next two games.
On November 29, the Panthers announced that McCaffrey will miss the remainder of the season with an ankle injury he suffered during the Panthers Week 12 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
He finished the 2021 season with 442 rushing yards, 343 receiving yards, and two total touchdowns in seven games.
Contract
Christian McCaffrey signed a 4 year, $64,063,500 contract with the Carolina Panthers, including a $21,500,000 signing bonus.
| Contract: | 4 yr(s) / $64,063,500 |
| Signing Bonus | $21,500,000 |
| Average Salary | $16,015,875 |
| Total Guarantees | $38,162,500 |
| Guaranteed at Signing | $30,062,500 |
| Free Agent: | 2026 / UFA |
The Carolina Panthers have had a solid offseason, re-signing starters like wide receiver D.J. Moore and cornerback Donte Jackson while also adding talent at weak spots on the roster, such as offensive line.
The Panthers reportedly aren’t done making moves just yet, as they completed a simple restructure on running back Christian McCaffrey’s contract, clearing about $5.5 million in cap space, per NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero.
The Panthers now have the most available cap space in the NFL at $29,060,636, per Over The Cap.
As for the reason for this move, Carolina is still looking for a quarterback, and may be the favorite to land San Francisco 49ers signal-caller Jimmy Garoppolo.