WHEW.
We’ve got a HUGE deal in the NFL that broke on Thursday night: The Carolina Panthers sent star running back Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers, who dealt a bunch of draft picks for the kind of player who could thrive in Kyle Shanahan’s offense right away.
Our Christian D’Andrea broke down the trade after news broke, looking at how the Niners’ offense — specifically, Jimmy Garoppolo — will benefit from having CMC as a back he can lean on.
As for the trade itself? Let’s hand out some grades for each team after the deal stunned NFL fans late Thursday night:
The Details
The 49ers get: RB Christian McCaffrey
The Panthers get: 2023 second-, third-, and fourth round picks, along with a 2024 fifth-round pick
San Francisco 49ers
Let’s start with the contender that felt it needed an upgrade at running back: With Elijah Mitchell injured, Jeff Wilson was … fine? He went over 74 yards in all but one of the last five games.
So the Niners needed someone who wasn’t just a “fine” running back, but one that needed to command attention. And I get that — as our D’Andrea wrote, “It’s also a move that makes a ton of sense for a Niners offense whose playbook depends on papering over Jimmy Garoppolo’s inability to make throws downfield by surrounding him with players who can create huge gains after the catch.”
But … that’s a lot of picks. And that’s a lot of picks for a player who has a notable injury history. And Mitchell might be back in November?
This is worth talking about:
Here's why the #49ers won't miss their draft capital as much as opposing teams in the Christian McCaffrey trade:#49wz pic.twitter.com/F97IQ5v6NH
— Rohan Chakravarthi (@RohanChakrav) October 21, 2022
As is this:
Here’s some of the consistency that SF hopes to get with Christian McCaffrey: Kyle Shanahan is in his 6th year as 49ers’ HC and the Niners have had a different leading rusher in each of his first five seasons. The 49ers haven’t had a 1,000-yard rusher since Frank Gore in 2014.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 21, 2022
Still, I’m going to say it’s risky given the draft capital.
GRADE: B-
Carolina Panthers
Tear it down. All of it. And get back as many draft picks as you can.
That’s the goal for the Panthers, and it’s good that they did that with Robbie Anderson and now McCaffrey, and they should keep doing it with any big name that could fetch some good picks.
So they did a great job here extracting as much value as possible with a player who wasn’t going to help them now or in the near future, one who also comes with some risk.
GRADE: A
