San Francisco 49ers Among Teams Interested In Carolina Panthers Star Christian McCaffrey

The Carolina Panthers are reportedly entertaining commerce affords for All-Professional operating again Christian McCaffrey. This shouldn’t come as an excessive amount of of a shock with Carolina headed right into a full-scale rebuild following the firing of head coach Matt Rhule.

I beforehand targeted on the professionals and cons of the San Francisco 49ers getting concerned in commerce talks for the star operating again.

That appeared to be a precursor to a report from Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports activities, who signifies that San Francisco is among the many groups enthusiastic about McCaffrey. They’re reportedly joined by two AFC squads and the division-rival Los Angeles Rams in pursuit of McCaffrey.

“And whereas groups are calling about Christian McCaffrey, the Panthers haven’t engaged in any severe commerce talks. Carolina isn’t simply going to offer away one of many league’s greatest weapons when wholesome,” CBS Sports activities report on McCaffrey commerce curiosity. “The Broncos, 49ers, Rams and Payments are among the many groups which have proven various levels of curiosity in McCaffrey.”

The connection right here is actual in that 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has a built-in relationship with McCaffrey relationship again to the times of his father, Mike, teaching McCaffrey’s dad with the Denver Broncos.

From an on-field perspective, buying somebody of McCaffrey’s skill-set could be a serious boon for the 49ers. They’ve handled a plethora of accidents on the operating again place and are void of that dual-threat out of the backfield. Although, there’s different elements in play right here.

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Christian McCaffrey As A Match For the San Francisco 49ers

Jeff Wilson is having fun with RB1 duties for San Francisco with 2021 late-round decide Elijah Mitchell sidelined to harm. Whereas Wilson continues to carry out nicely, he’s not a lot of a risk to catch passes out of the backfield.

Since coming into the NFL as a top-10 decide of the Panthers again in 2017, McCaffrey has caught 383 passes in 63 video games (6.1 catches per recreation).

Previous to injury-plagued 2020 and 2021 seasons, McCaffrey was the single-most electrical operating again within the NFL. Within the two years prior, the previous Stanford star collected 4,357 whole yards and 32 touchdowns at a clip of 6.0 yards per contact. He additionally caught a powerful 223 passes whereas boasting an 83.8% catch charge.

Including McCaffrey to a skill-position grouping that features fellow All-Professionals reminiscent of Deebo Samuel and George Kittle would make Jimmy Garoppolo’s job a lot simpler at quarterback. It could additionally create a deep operating again group as soon as Mitchell returns from inury right here quickly.

Competitors For Christian McCaffrey

The division-rival Los Angeles Rams have been among the many most proactive groups on the commerce block lately. They’ve acquired the likes of Matthew Stafford and Jalen Ramsey by that avenue.

Off to a sluggish begin to the season, Los Angeles is in want of an improve at operating again. It ranks lifeless final within the NFL in dashing and has teenager Cam Akers on the commerce block. However very like San Francisco, these Rams are with out their first-round decide within the 2023 NFL Draft. They despatched that to the Detroit Lions within the Stafford blockbuster.

The Buffalo Payments appear to be a logical match. MVP candidate Josh Allen as soon as once more leads the workforce in dashing after heading all Payments gamers in that class a season in the past. Whether or not that is sustainable for a Tremendous Bowl contender stays to be seen. In clear win-now mode, Buffalo is probably going favored to land McCaffrey.

The Denver Broncos make much less sense in that they’ve dedicated a record-breaking contract to newly-acquired quarterback Russell Wilson. Denver additionally lacks a ton of draft capital given what it yielded to amass Wilson from the Seattle Seahawks within the first place.

What It May Take For San Francisco 49ers To Get Concerned

A current report means that Carolina is demanding a number of first-round picks for McCaffrey. That’s not taking place. Regardless of how dynamic he has been since becoming a member of the NFL, accidents have had a job in McCaffrey’s profession. He missed a mixed 23 video games in 2020 and 2021. Add in McCaffrey’s bloated contract following the 2022 season, and it’s unlikely Carolina will obtain a couple of first-round decide.

The query for San Francisco is whether or not it ought to supply up a first-rounder in 2024 and alter for McCaffrey. This may have the workforce with out a first-round choice for 3 consecutive drafts.

Maybe, Carolina bites if the 49ers supply up a number of second-round picks as a part of a broader package deal. In actuality, the market will dicate this.