According to sources, the San Francisco 49ers are sending a second-, third- and fourth-round pick in 2023 and a fifth-round pick in 2024 to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for Christian McCaffrey.
San Francisco needs an offensive weapon to compete for a Super Bowl. It also gives him a chance to be on a winning team for the first time since he was drafted in the first round by the Carolina Hurricanes.
One of the best dual threats in the league is healthy. He became the third player in league history to have 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season. His 670 yards from scrimmage is fourth in the NFL and he leads the team with 33 catches.
The biggest issue has been injuries. He missed 23 of 33 games in the 2020 and 2021. He talked to Marshall Faulk, a Hall of Fame running back who had some of his most productive seasons in the sixth and seventh years of his career, about what workouts and diet practices could keep him on the field.
85% of Carolina's snaps have been played by McCaffrey.
After Matt Rhule was fired after the team fell to 1-4 with a 37-15 loss to the 49ers, there was a lot of speculation about the future of the player. The Carolina was initially asking for two first-round draft picks.
It's a good deal for Carolina. The base salary for the next three years for the eighth pick in the draft is $11 million. He has cap hits of over 19 million in the next two years and over 15 million in the next five years.
Financially, the trade makes sense for the 49ers. After his contract was restructured in December of 2021, he will have a base salary of over $1 million. Carolina will have a 2023 cap savings of over $1 million because of the $26,938,000 million dead money hit the Panther's have on the books.
The key is to get the cap off the books. Chuba Hubbard and D'Onta Foreman were acquired in a trade with the TennesseeTitans during the off-season. Hubbard has five runs for 39 yards.
Following Sunday's 24-10 loss to the Rams that left the Carolinas with a 1-5 record, McCaffrey said all he wanted to do was win. He's going to have his chance now.
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