The Panthers have officially ruled out Christian McCaffrey for Sunday’s game against the Lions. This was the expected move as CMC continues to nurse an injured shoulder. 
The good news is that McCaffrey’s season is not believed to be in jeopardy, though the Panthers will have to sort out the risk/reward of putting their franchise player on the field in the midst of a losing season. So far, he’s appeared in just three games in 2020 thanks to an ankle injury and his latest shoulder issue. Up until this season, McCaffrey had perfect attendance through his first three pro seasons.
In the seven games that McCaffrey has missed, Mike Davis has served as the Panthers’ lead back. That’ll be the plan once again when they face Detroit on Sunday. In CMC’s three games on the field, he’s totaled 59 carries for 225 yards and five rushing TDs, plus 17 catches for 149 yards and one receiving TD. Of course, this isn’t the encore that he had in mind. In 2019, McCaffrey managed 1,387 rushing yards off of 287 carries, giving him an average of 4.8 yards per tote. He also caught 116 passes for 1,005 yards through the air. All combined, he notched 19 touchdowns en route to a record-breaking four-year, $64MM extension.
Damn! I need him to get healthy for the Playoffs in fantasy!
What we need is for Carolina to win this weekend so that the Panthers will still want to bring CMC back next week or the week after. They’re falling out of the wildcard race.