McCaffrey On The Move

The San Francisco 49ers made the bold mid-season move of acquiring running back Christian McCaffrey from the Carolina Panthers. It’s the biggest mid-season trade since the Los Angeles Rams pried edge rusher from the Denver Broncos last year. That trade helped the Rams win a Super Bowl. We’ll see what the 49ers do with the incredibly versatile McCaffrey. With his recent injury history, San Francisco might be the last place that he wants to be. 

The Trade:

San Francisco gets:

Christian McCaffrey

Carolina gets:

2023 second round pick

2023 third round pick

2023 fourth round pick

2024 fifth round pick

The top of the 49ers 2023 draft is essentially already on the team. Trey Lance and Christian McCaffrey. The 49ers can hang out with the Rams for the first two days of next year’s. Actually, the 49ers still have a couple third round compensatory picks in the 2023 NFL Draft. 

When healthy, Christian McCaffrey is one of the best, most versatile running backs in the league. Recently, he hasn’t been healthy. Injuries limited him to three games in 2020 and seven games in 2021. He’s dealt with a few injury issues this year but has played in every game. He’s currently good to go for the 49ers. Reports are that he’ll have a role as soon as this Sunday. 

Kyle Shanahan’s offense might be the best place in the league for a player with McCaffrey’s varied talents. It’s an offense that has made modestly talented backs very productive. McCaffrey is far better than modestly talented. He’s the most talented back to play in a Shanahan offense since Terrell Davis. It’s actually scary to imagine what McCaffrey what might do in San Francisco. 

I saw this tweet from Robert Griffin III reacting to the trade:

The 49ers have McCaffrey, Deebo, Kittle, Juszczyk, and Aiyuk. They will be the MOST VERSATILE OFFENSE IN THE NFL personnel wise. Have a running back who could be a starting slot receiver. A WR who could be a starting RB and a FB who could be a starting RB or TE. NIGHTMARE MATCHUPS.

These playmakers are nightmare matchups. Each can play all over the formation. McCaffrey can split out and legitimately run receiver routes. Deebo can line up in the backfield and legitimately run between the tackles like a running back. Shanahan could just put McCaffrey in his traditional running back role and everyone is happy but the 49ers opponent on the field. McCaffrey isn’t a traditional running back. He can do so much more than that. Those talents deserve a new playbook and Shanahan’s probably already designing new plays. Installing those on the fly might be a difficult thing. It might be best to wait until the offseason to install some of the “special” things. For now, McCaffrey is a special player in perhaps his perfect offense. 

If the 49ers can get their injured players back, the addition of Christian McCaffrey might make them the team to beat in the NFC and a true threat to the title that many have already given to the Buffalo Bills.