Injuries have largely kept Christian McCaffrey off the field over the past two seasons, significantly limiting his production since the Panthers gave him a record-setting running back extension. Carolina was not believed to be interested in trading its starting back, but that has not stopped other teams from calling.
McCaffrey inquiries have come the Panthers’ way, but Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports notes the team would want a monster return for the talented dual-threat back. The Panthers would seek a first-round pick and another asset for McCaffrey, who four seasons remaining on his deal. CMC is attached to an $8.4M base salary in 2022; his salaries jump past $11M beginning in 2023.
While unrealistic, the Panthers’ ask makes sense due to how disadvantageous a trade would be for them financially. Unloading McCaffrey’s contract before June 1 would tag the Panthers with $18M in dead money. A post-June 1 trade would at least save Carolina more than $8M, but the Panthers would obviously be selling low given their star back’s past two seasons. Last year, the Panthers were not believed to have included McCaffrey in their Deshaun Watson talks.
McCaffrey, 26, has played just 10 games over the past two seasons. Ankle and hamstring injuries have disrupted the second-generation NFLer’s prime. An All-Pro season in which McCaffrey finished with an NFL-leading 2,392 scrimmage yards prompted Matt Rhule to greenlight that four-year, $64M extension in 2020. That set the running back market. None of McCaffrey’s 2017 classmates or subsequent running back extension recipients have passed the $15M-per-year threshold.
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