When healthy, Christian McCaffrey has proven himself to be one of the most productive players in the league. Staying on the field has been an issue during the past two seasons, though, leading some to think that he would be better suited to line up as a slot receiver more frequently. McCaffrey himself has rebuffed such suggestions; head coach Matt Rhule recently did the same. 
[RELATED: Panthers Rework McCaffrey’s Contract]
As detailed by ESPN’s David Newton, Rhule confirmed that the team plans to keep the 25-year-old in his familiar running back spot, in spite of the workload he has shouldered and the injuries he has dealt with in recent years. McCaffrey has received 1,138 touches in his five seasons in the NFL – an average of 228 per season. With a full season in 2020 and 2021, those figures would have been significantly higher.
“We can always move him around and utilize him, but at the end of the day, he’s a back”, Rhule said. “You can do a lot of things with Christian, but to take him out of the backfield, to me, is taking him out of what he does best. We’ll keep him at tailback.”
The Panthers leaned heavily on rookie Chuba Hubbard in McCaffrey’s absence last season, and signed former Titan D’Onta Foreman in free agency. If healthy, though, the former All-Pro will of course take over as the starter again. Newton notes that new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo could use more two-RB formations, lending itself to McCaffrey being put in motion and/or the slot – something which he has very rarely done, despite his abilities as a pass-catcher.
Regardless of McAdoo’s scheme, or whom the Panthers’ QB will be in 2022, the team will carry on with the focal point of their offense in essentially the same way as they have for the rest of his career to date.
Yes, because being blindsided by hard-hitting safety or linebacker after a midfield reception is a more cautious option…
I think the idea would be to limit both the number of touches and wear/tear associated with constantly running between the tackles
Move him around from back field, in motion, keep ‘em off balance… should be caching 50% of his touches… need to maximize YAC YARDAGE…. Deebo Samuel like…
And he is hurt
Keeping him at RB at least for the first 5 games then onto 2023.
CMC may not be the type of player to prioritize such things… but the way I understand it, doesn’t WR pay quite a bit more than RB when it comes to franchise tags?
His cap hit the next four years is 8, 19, 19 and 15M. I don’t think he’s looking at a WR tag 5 years from now.
Lol, he’s not getting tagged in five years.
Nope
Having a guy like McCaffrey on the roster only makes sense if you have the other parts of a modern NFL offense in place. Simply moving him to the slot is useless as it still requires a QB with NFL skills to get him the ball and the Panthers have bupkis at that position. They should trade him to someplace like Arizona or Las Vegas.
I don’t think it matters, he is a fragile china doll.
Yes, he is a china toll, but he is talented, they don’t have a QB, if they trade him, they are starting back over…even if you draft a QB, you need talent around rookie QB… If you don’t will be Jacksonville with Trevor Lawrence…
I don’t think anybody thinks that Lawrence didn’t have talent on his own roster. James Robinson, James o’shaughnessy, shenault, Marvin Jones jr, Chark, Dorsett. He was placed into one of the worst situations to succeed. You could run that season back with almost anyone not named urban meyer and probably end up with better results.
Do you think you just listed a good amount of talent?
That’s a level of talent that gets you better than their record last season, bud. Oh they’re not number one at their position? Okay. Still not a talent poor group. The Saints best receivers were Marquez Callaway, Deonte Harris and Tre’Quan Smith. They went 9-8. None of those guys has had seasons better than Chark or Jones. Shenault had almost identical numbers in terms of yardage and no TDs despite more targets. James Robinson had 1400 yards as a rookie. And his yards per touch were higher and still wasn’t seeing the field.
I think it was pretty obvious the issues were not talent. But continue being a potato.
So your justification is that a team with a great offensive line, a strong defense, and Sean Payton did better? It’s still a poor group of weapons. Laquon Treadwell started seven games for them. Obviously Urban helped that team underachieve, but it was a very weak roster. But hey, calling me names makes your points seem substantive.
Terrible signing
To get full value on that investment they’ll have Mac playing multiple positions, selling hot dogs and doing stadium maintenance work.