The San Francisco 49ers have acquired star running back Christian McCaffrey from the Carolina Panthers for a haul of draft picks.
The Panthers on Thursday evening introduced the deal that sends McCaffrey back to the Bay Area the place he starred in faculty at Stanford. They stated it is going to be finalized when McCaffrey passes a bodily.
The Panthers will obtain picks within the second, third and fourth rounds of the 2023 draft, in addition to a fifth-rounder in 2024, in keeping with an individual aware of the phrases. The particular person spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of the phrases weren’t introduced.
Carolina had been in search of a first-round decide, however San Francisco had already dealt their 2023 first-round decide in a deal to draft Trey Lance final yr.
McCaffrey joins a proficient group of playmakers in San Francisco with versatile receiver Deebo Samuel, star tight finish George Kittle and receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
New <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/49ers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#49ers</a> RB Christian McCaffrey, who has already spoken to educate Kyle Shanahan and workforce brass, travels tomorrow to his new house. If he performs Sunday, which he probably will do, anticipate a pink zone package deal. Then he’ll ramp up from there.
—@RapSheet
But the Niners (3-3) weren’t as sturdy at running back with starter Elijah Mitchell out with a knee damage. McCaffrey offers coach Kyle Shanahan with top-of-the-line as each a runner and receiver, including one other ingredient to San Francisco’s offence.
McCaffrey has a $990,000 US wage this yr after Carolina reworked his contract, making him a simple match underneath the wage cap. He is owed about $36 million over the following three years, however none of that’s assured.
The commerce leaves the already depleted, and largely inept Panthers offence extraordinarily skinny at running back with D’Onta Foreman and Chuba Hubbard anticipated to compete for the beginning job and Raheem Blackshear probably within the combine for extra work.
The 26-year-old McCaffrey is taken into account one of the crucial versatile running backs within the league when wholesome due to his capability as a runner, receiver and blocker.
He missed 23 video games over the earlier two seasons as a consequence of accidents, however has performed in all six video games this season and is fourth within the NFL in yards from scrimmage (607) regardless of enjoying for the league’s Thirty second-ranked offense. He and Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb are the one gamers within the league to have 5 video games this yr with not less than 100 yards from scrimmage.
Thank you, Run CMC. <a href=”https://t.co/tkKD8aByDa”>pic.twitter.com/tkKD8aByDa</a>
—@Panthers
McCaffrey has 7,272 yards from scrimmage — 3,980 dashing and three,292 receiving — and has scored 50 touchdowns since coming into the league because the eighth total draft decide in 2017.
McCaffrey’s finest season got here in 2019 when he had 1,387 yards dashing and 1,005 yards receiving, making solely the third participant in NFL historical past to eclipse 1,000 yards in each classes. He additionally had 19 touchdowns that season and was named All-Pro.
McCaffrey’s father, Ed, received a Super Bowl with the 49ers within the 1994 season and received two extra titles in Denver with Shanahan’s father, Mike, as his head coach.