Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey told Joe Person at the Athletic this week that he underwent shoulder surgery after his rookie season. The procedure had been previously undisclosed.
McCaffrey was Carolina’s first-round pick in 2017, selected at No. 8 overall. Despite his immense promise, the Panthers split time in the backfield between McCaffrey and a declining Jonathan Stewart in his first year.
In the end, McCaffrey had 117 carries compared to 198 for Stewart. McCaffrey totaled 435 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. He did much more damage as a receiver though, catching 80 passes for 651 yards and five scores.
If there were any delayed after-effects of McCaffrey’s surgery, he showed no signs of it in 2018. McCaffrey played a remarkable 91.3 percent of the team’s offensive snaps. After backup C.J. Anderson was released, he hardly came off the field at all. McCaffrey set a new record for catches by a running back in a single season and totaled 13 touchdowns and nearly 2,000 yards from scrimmage.
McCaffrey is now unquestionably one of the NFL’s elite backs. In our 2019 top 10 league-wide rankings for the position, we put McCaffrey at No. 3 behind only Saquon Barkely and Todd Gurley.
