49ers acquire Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey in blockbuster trade

Rumored to be on the trade block for the past several days, Christian McCaffrey is on the move. The 49ers will acquire the former All-Pro Panthers running back, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter).

The 49ers are sending over a major haul for the sixth-year back. Carolina will acquire San Francisco’s second, third and fourth-round picks in 2023 and a fifth-round 2024 selection, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The Bills and Rams were also rumored to be in on McCaffrey, and this compensation package certainly indicates interest was there.

The Rams indeed made a push for CMC, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero (on Twitter). Los Angeles has made a host of splashy in-season trades, moves that have helped produce Super Bowl berths, but the team stood down here. The 49ers now have McCaffrey signed through 2025.

Although the Bills called to check on McCaffrey’s availability this offseason, Rapoport adds they were not involved in these sweepstakes at the end (Twitter link). While Buffalo will move forward with its Devin Singletary–James Cook backfield stable, the 49ers will add one of this era’s top dual-threat backs to theirs. McCaffrey, 26, will join a 49ers running back cadre currently headed by Jeff Wilson. Starter Elijah Mitchell remains on IR with an MCL sprain but is expected to return around midseason.

Because the Panthers restructured McCaffrey’s contract this offseason, the 49ers only owe him $690K for the season’s remainder. However, CMC’s four-year, $64MM deal — still the running back benchmark 2 1/2 years after its finalization — includes base salaries of $11.8MM in 2023 and ’24 and $12MM in 2025. Considering the haul the 49ers are parting with, it does not seem like they view McCaffrey as a rental. That said, only $1MM in injury guarantees remain on the deal, giving San Francisco some flexibility.

McCaffrey’s dominance at Stanford provided the onramp for him to become a rare modern-era top-10 running back pick, and after a slow start, he broke through with one of this period’s top running back seasons. Despite Cam Newton going down early in the season, McCaffrey made a run at Chris Johnson‘s single-season scrimmage yards record. He did not get there, but the 2,392-yard, 19-touchdown campaign — on top of a 1,965-yard 2018 season — led to the record-setting extension. Of course, the 49ers are taking a gamble based on what McCaffrey’s 2020s have produced.

A high ankle sprain early in the 2020 season began McCaffrey’s slide toward the “injury-prone” label for which he has become known. In addition to injuries to both ankles over the past two years, McCaffrey has run into shoulder and hamstring maladies. In total, the former No. 8 overall pick missed 23 games from 2020-21. The Panthers are cashing out here, with McCaffrey — chosen during Dave Gettleman’s GM run — having played in all six games this season. CMC’s 670 scrimmage yards — 104 against the 49ers in Week 5 — rank fourth in the NFL through six games.

The 49ers are giving up far more than they did for Emmanuel Sanders at the 2019 deadline; the veteran wideout cost third- and fourth-round picks. But McCaffrey provides a much higher ceiling and had much of the Matt Rhule era to conserve his body. McCaffrey gives the 49ers a fourth All-Pro on offense, joining George Kittle, Deebo Samuel and Trent Williams. Christian McCaffrey‘s father, Ed, is better known for his Broncos days, but the former possession receiver was on the 1994 49ers’ Super Bowl-winning team.

With three Day 2 picks plus the fifth-rounder, the Panthers are collecting a somewhat surprising package for a running back. Although David Johnson brought the Cardinals DeAndre Hopkins — in a widely panned 2020 deal that featured a second-round pick going to the Texans as well — no back had brought more than merely a third-round pick since the 2013 Trent Richardson Browns-Colts swap. This trade will give a transitioning Panthers team a considerable edge in the 2023 draft.

Carolina, which was without some ammo in this year’s draft due to trades for Sam Darnold and C.J. Henderson, sent its 2023 third-rounder to New England in order to trade up for Matt Corral. The Panthers, however, do have their own first- and second-rounders next year. With the picks the 49ers are sending, the NFC South club will have six picks in the first four rounds next year. In the meantime, the Panthers have offseason pickup D’Onta Foreman and 2021 draftee Chuba Hubbard to pick up the pieces in their backfield.