The Panthers began 2022 with Baker Mayfield at quarterback and Christian McCaffrey as his top offensive weapon. They finished the season with neither player on the roster.
The tear-down began when Carolina sent McCaffrey to San Francisco in a pre-deadline deal, seemingly waving the white flag less than two weeks after firing coach Matt Rhule. The Panthers had given McCaffrey a lucrative extension some two years earlier, and the trade came at a time when the former Stanford star was finally fully healthy for the first time in multiple years.
While Carolina has started anew with Bryce Young at quarterback, McCaffrey has looked like an Offensive Player of the Year contender early in 2023 with the 49ers.
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Here's a closer look at why the Panthers traded Christian McCaffrey last season.
Why did the Panthers trade Christian McCaffrey?
McCaffrey became a trade candidate as soon as the Panthers started seeing their season slip away in 2022. Once Rhule was fired and it became clear Carolina understood playoff contention was unlikely, it started to make more sense to unload McCaffrey's contract ahead of a new era.
By October 2022, the Panthers were a bad team with a few too many holes on the roster and the highest-paid running back in the NFL. With so little emphasis on paying running backs in this era of the NFL, it didn't make sense for so much of the franchise's money to be tied up at the position.
The Panthers didn't clear much money from the books in 2022 by trading McCaffrey, as he had already converted much of his salary into a signing bonus, but they did clear the more than $12 million they owed him in both 2023 and 2024.
Conventional wisdom at the time of the trade was that Carolina was hoping to land the first overall pick in the 2023 draft by unloading McCaffrey. Whether that was true or not, it didn't happen — not directly. The Panthers turned the ship around to a degree, finishing 7-10 and earning the ninth overall pick, which they would trade to the Bears in a deal for the first pick.
What happened after the McCaffrey trade illustrates why it no longer made sense to keep his gaudy contract on the books. His primary replacement, D'Onta Foreman, rushed for 877 yards on 4.6 yards per carry in the 11 games following the deal. An efficient running game actually propelled the Panthers to a 6-5 finish after the trade.
The Panthers invested a bit in their backfield this past offseason, signing Miles Sanders, but Sanders' four-year, $25.4 million deal still comes in well over $9 million short of McCaffrey's annual salary.
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Christian McCaffrey contract
The Panthers in 2020 signed McCaffrey to a four-year, $64.1 million contract extension with $38.2 million guaranteed.
While almost all other position groups have seen their average annual salary rise over the last few years, the running back position hasn't. McCaffrey remains the NFL's highest-paid running back, even after all this time.
While the 49ers could save about $12 million against the cap by cutting McCaffrey lose after this season, he's earning his money in 2023. McCaffrey has 304 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns through two games with one highlight-reel play after another.
Christian McCaffrey with the choke-slam 😤 pic.twitter.com/n6xO7LgeDA
— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) September 17, 2023
Panthers RB depth chart
1. Miles Sanders
Sanders capitalized on a 1,269-yard season with the NFC champion Eagles and signed a four-year deal with the Panthers in the offseason. He received the bulk of Carolina's carries in Week 1, rushing for 72 yards on 18 attempts and doubling up Chuba Hubbard's touches out of the backfield.
2. Chuba Hubbard
Hubbard was a fourth-round pick out of Oklahoma State in 2021 and was an efficient complement to Foreman after the McCaffrey deal last season. While he struggled in a major role as a rookie, Hubbard averaged 4.9 yards per carry in 2022 and ran for en efficient 60 yards on only nine carries in Week 1 against the Falcons.
3. Raheem Blackshear
Blackshear is in his second season with the Panthers, after handling 23 carries as a reserve in 2022. The Virginia Tech product did score three touchdowns and hauled in 10 receptions, so his versatility prompted Carolina to keep him on the roster entering 2023.
