After sitting out the last five weeks due to a hamstring injury, star RB Christian McCaffrey could be making his much-anticipated return to the field as the team activates him ahead of their Week 9 game against the New England Patriots. Does this mean fantasy football managers can instantly plug McCaffrey back in their lineups as an RB1? What should we expect from the consensus 1.01 of 2021 fantasy drafts against the New England Patriots?
Update: The Panthers have announced that Christian McCaffrey is active and expected to play for Carolina today.
Panthers activate Christian Mccaffrey after missing five games due to hamstring injury
When the Carolina Panthers designated McCaffrey to return from the injured reserve on Wednesday, the team opened a 21-day window to activate him to the 53-man roster. But it seems the team is as impatient as we’ve been.
On Saturday, the Panthers activated McCaffrey ahead of their Week 9 matchup against the Patriots. At his press conference on Friday, Panthers head coach Matt Rhule told reporters McCaffrey would be re-evaluated Saturday before deciding whether he would be reinstated from IR, per Joe Person of The Athletic.
Clearly, things went well. David Newton of ESPN reports the Panthers are activating McCaffrey for Week 9, but this doesn’t necessarily mean he’s playing. Newton went on to state that the Panthers will use pre-game warmups to make the final determination whether or not he will play.
The Panthers have a 1 PM game on Sunday, so we’ll know the status of McCaffrey at 11:30 AM ET when teams must publish their inactive players. With all this being said, just because McCaffrey might play does not mean he will be the same player fantasy managers have grown accustomed to over the past several years.
McCaffrey will not have the same fantasy upside in Week 9
As much as I want to see McCaffrey come back and be his dominant self, I also have to be realistic. The Panthers see the big picture. A game against a non-divisional and non-conference team will not decide the outcome of their season. The Panthers are sitting at 4-4 but are 1-4 in their last five games since McCaffrey went on the shelf.
They need McCaffrey for the long haul. Quite frankly, so do fantasy managers.
CMC will likely be limited if he plays
If he plays, I’d expect McCaffrey to take about 30-35 snaps, and that might be on the high end. Still, that’s more than enough for McCaffrey to make an impact. He is arguably the best running back in the NFL, and if we were redrafting right now, he would probably be a top-two pick.
Cough Jonathan Taylor RB1 cough. Man, I need to get that cough checked out.
But if I were someone who had McCaffrey on my team — which I am multiple times over — I would be perfectly fine if he sits, to be honest. McCaffrey arguably means more to fantasy managers’ hopes than he does to the Panthers. He was the unquestioned 1.01 pick, and as we crest the season’s midway point, we have to start thinking about the vast approaching playoffs. If you drafted McCaffrey, you/we need him for that stretch more than a random game in Week 9.
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The Panthers know they can get by without him. They drafted Chuba Hubbard for this season. Furthermore, they have Royce Freeman and Ameer Abdullah, who helped the Panthers rush a season-high 47 times for 203 yards last week against Atlanta. Over the last five weeks, we’ve gotten by without McCaffrey. If it takes one more week for us to get him healthy for the rest of the season, that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
What should fantasy managers do with McCaffrey in Week 9?
If McCaffrey is active and we get word he will see snaps, I have a hard time sitting here and saying not to play him. He would come in somewhere around the mid-to-low RB2 range. The matchup isn’t bad. While the Patriots are a solid defense, they are 18th in fantasy points allowed per game (24.41) and are conceding 159.1 total yards per game.
Even at 30-40 snaps, McCaffrey has enough upside where I would play him in my flex. Even though there is always the added risk of re-injury, he’s just too good not to take a shot on. He is an explosive player and puts a ton of strain on his body with his style of play.
Fantasy outlook for McCaffrey in Week 9
It looked like McCaffrey was set to come back two weeks after his injury in Week 3. However, after practicing on a limited basis four times over the next two weeks, he was placed on IR. This forced the Panthers to take the slow approach, and it was the right move in the end.
I don’t expect to see McCaffrey average the 29.5 touches per game he was early in the season. But even if he splits reps the rest of the way with Hubbard and still gets 18-21 touches per game, McCaffrey would still be a weekly top-two RB for the rest of the season. They say the holidays begin on November 1. Well, we all just got an early Christmas present in the form of No. 22.