Today marks the two-year anniversary of Christian McCaffrey‘s four-year, $64MM extension with the Panthers. The deal included $36MM guaranteed, $30MM fully guaranteed, and made CMC the highest-paid running back in NFL history. 
[RELATED: CMC To Remain At RB]
McCaffrey and the Panthers had been discussing an extension for some time, even though the youngster was a long way from free agency. Elsewhere, the Panthers were in the midst of an overhaul, having bid farewell to head coach Ron Rivera, tight end Greg Olsen, one-time MVP quarterback Cam Newton, and other longtime figures. McCaffrey, of course, remained as a building block of the team’s future.
In September of 2019, Cowboys star Ezekiel Elliott broke the RB record with a six-year, $90MM extension. CMC beat that $15MM AAV by a cool $1MM. More importantly, he landed his deal on a much shorter term. The Panthers standout would secure the bag in the near term and be able to do it all again in his prime.
Saints star Alvin Kamara would later threaten his mantle, but fall just short at $15MM per annum. McCaffrey, meanwhile, went on to play in a combined ten games over the next two seasons. That was a bummer for CMC, who had previously earned a First-Team All-Pro selection. And, even in a “down” ’19, McCaffrey still managed 1,387 rushing yards off of 287 carries for an average of 4.8 yards per tote. He also caught 116 passes for 1,005 yards through the air to finish the year with 19 total touchdowns.
The injuries even prompted the Panthers to consider a position change for their franchise RB. But, just a few weeks ago, head coach Matt Rhule confirmed that McCaffrey will remain in the backfield.
“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.”
As great as McCaffrey is, the Panthers’ offer was panned by many. Market-setting deals for running backs, like the four-year, $60MM deal Todd Gurley once had with the Rams, often go south. Gurley couldn’t stay healthy after putting pen to paper, and neither has CMC. At least, that’s been the case so far.
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