Christian McCaffrey‘s name continues to come up in trade rumors, and the Panthers might be moving off their spring ask of a first-round pick and change.
While Carolina is shooting for a first-rounder for the former All-Pro running back, the team is also entertaining offers headlined by a Day 2 pick, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reports. The latter package would need to include a Day 2 choice and another pick, per Jones, who adds the Panthers do not view McCaffrey as an automatic 2023 cap casualty. But the prospect of the dual-threat dynamo being moved out of Charlotte continues to gain steam.
The Panthers rebuffed multiple teams on McCaffrey recently, but they are listening on offers — whereas the likes of Brian Burns, D.J. Moore and Derrick Brown appear nonstarters in trade talks. In the spring, the Panthers were connected to wanting a first-round pick and a cost-controlled player. Has teams’ reluctance to approach that compensation level led to a revised asking price?
No running back has been traded for a first-round pick since the Browns sent Trent Richardson to the Colts during the 2013 season. Excepting the unusual DeAndre Hopkins–David Johnson trade, no running back has been dealt for more than a third (Duke Johnson, 2019) since the Richardson swap. McCaffrey is a unique trade chip, but his position still suppresses his value to a degree. Though, CMC’s passing-game value adds more intrigue to prospective trade talks.
A few teams have been linked to McCaffrey early. The Bills, Rams, 49ers and Broncos surfaced as interested parties, though Denver’s recent swoon makes the team being buyers — especially with Javonte Williams under contract through 2024 — harder to envision. 49ers starter Elijah Mitchell is expected to return around midseason, but the productive sixth-round pick has proven injury-prone early in his career. The Bills have shown an affinity for ex-Panthers, given Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane‘s ties to Carolina. While active players from Beane and McDermott’s Charlotte stay are somewhat sparse six years later, Beane was with the Panthers when they drafted McCaffrey eighth overall in 2017.
The Rams are going through some unexpected backfield turnover. They are now likely to trade Cam Akers, with a disagreement set to call for a mid-rookie-contract divorce. Akers talks also affect Carolina’s McCaffrey discussions, since there is another back (a lower-tier player, but a starter-caliber cog) on the block. Darrell Henderson is also in a contract year, opening the door for an addition signed beyond 2022. The Rams have not been shy about splashy trades, and they did part with two picks (fourth- and sixth-rounders) for Sony Michel last year. It will take more to land CMC, but how much more?
McCaffrey, 26, would make for an expensive add. He is tied to base salaries of $11.8MM in 2023 and ’24 and a $12MM 2025 price. Those sums are nonguaranteed, so it would be interesting to see how the Panthers play this. They are believed to be open to taking on some salary in a trade, injecting more interest here, as that would increase the compensation price.
Carolina has been more resistant to move other pieces, but McCaffrey — who has not missed any games this season, after being sidelined for 23 from 2020-21 — has generated interest. The team began to dangle Robbie Anderson in trades over the weekend, and although his sideline dustup with Panthers coaches marked the end of his three-season run, but Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets the veteran receiver was available for around a year. McCaffrey trade buzz started when the team pursued Deshaun Watson ahead of last year’s deadline, and the team revisited the talks in March. The latest set of CMC trade rumors have persisted for a longer period, leading to the assumption these in-season sweepstakes are real.
Why on Earth would a team cough up that much for a running back who’s missed so much time the past couple of years?
(Devil’s advocate) Why do so many people play the lottery? Or go to casinos? Or date? It statistically is dumb! But if this is the one time he stays healthy, he is a difference maker.
You said “date” lol! Bro, it isn’t that hard if you’re not a complete weirdo. Lol you compared dating to winning the lottery!
Dude, he just means the statistical improbability that you are going to meet your soul mate on a date. He’s just making comparisons among long shot things. Think deeper my dude
If he was capable of deeper thought, we’d already know it, and thats ok! The world needs ditch diggers too.
Desperation? Short term job keeping?
Damage control?
Aerosmith said ” Dream On”.
And “Eat The Rich”
Bills should offer their first. They need more balance on O and he can catch the ball as well.
Playing outdoors in frigid weather really helps soothe the aches and pains that result from injuries too.
They drafted a rookie for that job, and he’s coming along fine without giving up a first-round pick and taking a significant cap hit. Add on the injury risk and the need to resign key players next year, and I believe that would be a non-starter for Beane.
“Heads Carolina, tails California”
Maybe she’d fall for a boy from South Georgia
Huge salary cap hit + bad injury history + high asking price = No deal.
I would consider it if it was Carolina sending the 1st with him.
How much money are they gonna eat to move him
I get the “injury risk” thing with CMC. Honestly, I do.
However, I’ve just gotta ask: does everyone appreciate the indisputable fact that every snap includes the inherent possibility of a career/season ending/lasting injury?
Seriously, as far as football injuries, CMC has had his share, but any of them could’ve been far worse/tragic.
What i noticed is, until that last injury, the initial urgency to get him back into the lineup rather than ensure he’s healed completely/as much as possible.
Not trying to start a war, just my personal observation
i get what you are saying Buckaroo but once it has happened that injury is more likely to come back than someone who was not injured. Also CMC goes all out on his plays which makes him great and also causes greater concern for injury (reminds me of nimmo from the mets where great when healthy but was always hurt). I would do the same argument for say Bechton vs Thomas / Wirfs where i would value Thomas (giants_ and Wirfs (bucs) much higher than Bechton (jets) as those 2 havent missed a game that i can recall vs only playing 1 out of 3 seasons.
Also for the record, i would love CMC on my team, but there is a point where cost is greater risk/reward. I would do a mid to late 2nd day pick with conditional to push it to earlier 2nd day pick based on play time and also depending on how much panthers absorb cap wise.
Or whatever team he ends up with finds out he decides not to play the final 2 games of the season because they’re not making the playoffs or their seed is set, and it’s not important enough for him to bother suiting up.
when has he done this
Sat out his final bowl game in college. Yeah, I know it’s a thing and everyone does it now. It’s still selfish. Not like he was skipping the Motor City Bowl with a 6 win team.
Nobody is giving them a first round pick for a RUNNING BACK even if he was perfectly healthy. He’s got a lot of miles on the odometer and an extensive recent injury track record.
remember that trent richardson … yes trent freakin richardson got traded for a 1st rounder and i think cmc is much better than trent ever was. So anything can happen.
heck both the Jets and Giants are winning teams and if you asked me before the season started what was the better chance of happening CMC getting traded for a first round pick vs both the Giants and Jets with winning records i would have probably dropped my entire salary on the cmc trade.
I still dont think they get one but anything is possible.
That’s because Irsay was a raging alcoholic and isn’t allowed to run the team anymore.
So your saying there is no owner/gm in the league that will do something stupid?
That Dan snyder could be a jerk to the new owner if he is forced to sell?
Jerry Jones still doing things like trading amari cooper for 5th round picks when WR of his caliber were going for 1st rd plus picks?
Perhaps an owner trade and extend an aging declined QB to fully guaranteed contracts? (which btw i admit i was all for trading for wilson)
A GM trying to save his job and doesnt care about the future that he may never be part of?
The Ravens just inked DeSean Jackson, so clearly there are still stupid teams out there, the question is how stupid are they?
I don’t think there’s a team out there that is stupid enough to give the Panthers a first AND a day two pick.
Well, even though Ryan Grigson is in my opinion the worst GM I’ve ever personally seen (Trent Baalke is likely second), Richardson was coming off a good rookie year. Remember, he wasn’t always terrible.
That was a different NFL, though. And, even in that day, Grigson was still an idiot. That was also back before the Colts rebuilt their offensive line, and had no business acquiring a running back for a first, even in that era where they were thought of as a little more valuable.
They thought adding a ground game to their offense would be the thing to send it over the top. They mortgaged the future for the window they thought they had in the present.
Yup, I agree with that. All the while, they still had no offensive line (or, as we found out later after the Pep Hamilton debacle, no cohesion of any kind between the coaching staff and general manager).
True and both teams have stars (or budding stars) at RB in Saquon Barkley and Breece Hall, respectively. Barkley is in a similar situation to McCaffrey with his injury history. Is he on his fifth year option? I wasn’t sure the Giants were going to exercise it given his history.
Of course Carolina knows that this would be a pipe dream. They’ll settle for whatever the best offer is if they want to move McCaffery. By creating the illusion that they A) are nonchalant about moving or keeping him and B) that they need a first in order to do so the Panthers are hoping to drive up offers. My guess would be that only a handful of contenders are truly serious about wrangling McCaffery and that Carolina is trying to play those teams against each other, rather than play the field as a whole.
Wanting a first is less demanding an actual first than it is “up your offer, buddy”. At least, that’s what I hope. There always is the possibility that the Panthers actually are that dumb. In any case, they ought to bear those injuries in mind when considering McCaffery’s workload going forward.
They should settle for a third and 6th pick and feel lucky if they get that. I’d offer a 4th and a 5th personally.. always injured and overpaid for what he’s been producing lately.. clear their salary cap for a rebuild is smart move
Yes… Let’s blow the future of our team on an oft-injured RB…