As the Carolina Panthers prepare to enter the final quarter of the season, the playoffs are largely out of reach and a top-10 draft pick in 2021 is once again on pace to come their way. But that doesn't mean the team put much thought into not playing a healthy Christian McCaffrey.
Coming off the Panthers' bye week, McCaffrey is likely to make his return to the field Sunday when the Panthers (4-8) host the Denver Broncos (4-8).
"There's nothing to make me think he's not (going to play)," Panthers coach Matt Rhule said. "Just a matter of if he feels like he can go."
When asked if he would play this week, McCaffrey said, "I feel great. I feel really great."
Staying on the field has been difficult for the running back for the first time in his football career. McCaffrey said that the only game he had missed prior to this season due to injury, including high school, was in college. He sat out of a 2016 Stanford game vs. Notre Dame.
This year alone, he has missed nine games with injuries. McCaffrey suffered a high ankle sprain during the Panthers' Week 2 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and spent the following six weeks on injured reserve. He was able to return for the Week 9 game against the Kansas City Chiefs, but was injured again in that game, suffering a shoulder injury on the final drive. He has missed all three games since.
"(It was) really frustrating. You work so hard for so long to come back and then something separate happens and that's just the nature of the game," McCaffrey said. "I think the best thing that's come out of it though is I've learned a lot about the game, learned a lot about myself and I've been able to kind of experience that adversity of watching from the side."
Prior to the bye, the Panthers remained cautious easing McCaffrey back onto the field. He was limited in practice throughout the week leading up to the team's loss against the Minnesota Vikings and ended up not traveling to Minneapolis.
The plan was for the Panthers to practice Monday afternoon; however, COVID-19 protocols forced the team to adjust and work virtually as the team placed eight additional players on the league's COVID-19 lists. Rhule said he would have expected McCaffrey and cornerback Donte Jackson (toe) to participate had the team practiced. Jackson has missed the last two games with the lingering injury, but Rhule said he was hopeful for his return Sunday as well.
The Panthers made a long-term commitment to McCaffrey in the offseason with a four-year, $64 million contract extension.
"If Christian's healthy, I know him, the competitor he is, he'll want to play," Rhule said. "If he's not healthy, I'll be the first guy saying, 'Hey, don't go out there,' but that thought of sitting a guy for the last four games of the year to get him ready for next year, I haven't had that."
McCaffrey, when asked if he would ever consider not playing the last four games of the season, said, "No. No, never."
With McCaffrey on the field in a limited sample size, the offense has been more effective. The Panthers average 25.3 first downs with McCaffrey and 20.1 without. They have converted 50% of third downs with him and 37.1% without.
Carolina is 0-3 with McCaffrey and 4-5 in games he has missed this year; however, there have been multiple close games that the Panthers have lost in which his presence was noticeably missing. But having already lost eight games isn't leading Rhule to put less of a priority on the next four.
"In my mind, when you start saying, 'Hey, these games are more important than these' and you're only doing it for something tangible, then I think you lose the moral high ground, if that makes any sense," Rhule said. "I just think it's our job to go out play as hard as we can and try to win and try to be a great team for all the people that are watching."
McCaffrey's lack of experience watching from the sidelines only made him want to come back more. There were times when he admitted he knew he could be helping the team play better on the field if he was out there. But there have been some positives from his time away.
"For me to go through that, in a way, just continues to spark a fire in me, and understanding how much I do love this game," McCaffrey said. "The days are actually longer when you're not playing then when you are playing. I think from the time you get up until the time you go to bed, I'm doing something to try to get my ankle back and then my shoulder back and to try to stay fast, stay in shape, stay strong, do all those things."
The Panthers are 21st in rushing yards (106.4) and points per game (23.3) this season.
Mike Davis has been the starting back in McCaffrey's place, while undrafted rookie Rodney Smith and Trenton Cannon both saw their roles increase vs. the Vikings.
McCaffrey, however, still leads the Panthers with six touchdowns in his three games. He has scored two touchdowns in each game and is one of 10 players with three-plus two-touchdown games. His return will be big for the team on a variety of levels as the Panthers prepare to face his father, Ed McCaffrey's, former team.
"When you go through life, or a football season in general, I think the best thing to do is just take everything day by day. And that's really what I'm doing. I want to play this game for as long as I possibly can," McCaffrey said. "The biggest thing for me is to mentally stay in it, to physically stay in the best possible shape as I can so that when I am ready to go I can produce."
