McCaffrey goes Home
Yes Christian McCaffrey the Standford star goes back home as the Carolina Panthers have abandoned all hope in the murky waters of the NFC South, they jumped ship after seeing the massive hole in their hull and decided to swim back to shore and start again. Smart.
McCaffrey, the often injured but immensely talented running back heads to the West Coast to help out an already stacked backfield with Jeff Wilson Jr and WR/HB Deebo Samuel. Which probably means they have three talented players now that can play back and or split out wide and play receiver. If McCaffrey stays healthy that offense should be difficult to stop.
But did they give up to much to get him? Did the 49ers overpay? They gave up 2023 2nd, 3rd, 4th round picks and a 2024 5th rounder for the talented 26 year old. That's a huge haul considering some experts believed a 2nd round pick would be all it took to get him. But how many draft picks actually make it? How many players make a career out of the NFL for more than 3 seasons? I'm betting the percentage is small, so I guess it's worth the risk for a potential superstar running back. I think people probably put to much stock in the draft anyway. Would I make this trade for what they gave up? No. But you see what Barkely is doing with the New York Giants and understand the move, one player can change the course of the game.
So the question that has been going around now is who won the trade, who the hell knows! The trade just happened. If the 49ers go on multiple runs or win a superbowl, yes, the 49ers won the trade. If the Panther end up getting multiple star players with those draft picks or trade up for a superstar QB, maybe they'd win the trade. We won't know for the next few years who won, unless McCaffrey goes down and is out for good.
So who do you think 'will' come out on top in this trade? Will it be the underachieving Panthers or the tenacious 49ers? How the hell does Baker Mayfield feel about all of this? I'd be annoyed as hell that I'm losing my best play makers on offense, since they also traded Robby Anderson to the Cards. Sounds like a full on tank mode for Carolina.