Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey is arguably the biggest name available ahead of the Nov. 1 NFL trade deadline. Apparently, two NFC clubs are among those interested in the 26-year-old.
According to a report from ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams “have been implicated in McCaffrey’s market.
The Panthers are the worst team in the NFL with a 1-5 record. The Las Vegas Raiders and Detroit Lions are both 1-4, and the Houston Texans are 1-3-1. The latter three clubs were all on their byes in Week 6.
Many expect the Panthers to be the top seller at the deadline. Owner David Tepper fired Matt Rhule last week, and the front office already traded speedy wideout Robbie Anderson to the Arizona Cardinals.
In the 2020 offseason, the Panthers signed McCaffrey to a massive four-year contract extension worth $64 million. The deal seemed reasonable at the time, as McCaffrey was coming off the third 1,000/1,000 season in NFL history.
But the second-generation running back was limited to 10 total games over the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Fortunately, he’s been healthy in 2022 and looks like his old self again with 393 rushing yards, two touchdowns and 33 receptions for 277 yards and one touchdown.
The Rams are expected to move on from lead back Cam Akers. And considering their struggles on offense (a mere 17.3 points per game), adding McCaffrey to the roster makes perfect sense.
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San Francisco usually boasts one of the NFL’s top rushing attacks under head coach Kyle Shanahan. Adding McCaffrey to an offense featuring George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, Jeff Wilson and Elijah Mitchell could take this group to a whole new level.
Whether or not the Panthers end up trading away their star player remains to be seen. Either way, there certainly won’t be a lack of interested teams in McCaffrey’s services.
