The San Francisco 49ers made a trade in the middle of the 2022 NFL season to upgrade an already dangerous offensive when they acquired running back Christian McCaffrey from the Carolina Panthers.
At the time of the trade, the Panthers were 1-5 and in last place in the NFC South, while the 49ers were tied for the NFC West lead with a 3-3 record.
Why the Carolina Panthers Traded Christian McCaffrey
Carolina fired head coach Matt Rhule the week before McCaffrey was traded. Rhule had an 11-27 record and was let go during the third season of a seven-year contract. The team was heading into a rebuilding cycle and they wanted to trade their best player for future draft picks.
The Panthers selected McCaffrey out of Stanford with the eighth overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. In his first three seasons, he averaged 973.3 rush yards, 101 receptions, and 841 receiving yards with 13 touchdowns. McCaffrey, who played each game in those seasons, was selected as a second-team All-Pro member in 2018 and first-team All-Pro member in 2019.
In April 2020, the Panthers signed McCaffery to a four-year, $64 million contract extension. He averaged 333.5 rush yards, 27 receptions, 246 receiving yards, and four touchdowns in 2020 and 2021. McCaffery missed 23 games because of shoulder, ankle, and thigh injuries. He restructured his contract after both seasons to help the team’s salary cap.
What Did the San Francisco 49ers Trade for McCaffrey?
The Panthers received three 2023 draft picks and a 2024 fifth-round pick from the 49ers for McCaffrey. Carolina used the 2023 picks to move up to select two players from last year’s draft.
Carolina included the second-round pick in a trade with the Chicago Bears to acquire the first overall pick to draft Alabama quarterback Bryce Young. The Panthers traded the third and fourth-round picks to the Pittsburgh Steelers to move up in the third round and drafted Oregon linebacker DJ Johnson.
Young completed 59.8% of his passes with 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 16 games this season. The Texans selected Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud with the second pick. Stroud won Offensive Rooke of the Year this season and finished eighth in MVP voting. Johnson played in 13 games but was only on the field for 29% of the defensive snaps this year.
The Panthers fired head coach Frank Reich, who was in his first season, after a 1-10 start. Carolina finished with an NFL-worst 2-15 record but the Panthers first-round pick was sent to the Bears in the Young trade.
McCaffrey Dominates With the 49ers
McCaffery had 746 rush yards, 52 receptions, 464 receiving yards, and 10 touchdowns in 11 games with the 49ers last season. After losing the first game with McCaffrey, San Francisco won the final 10 games of the regular season and the following two postseason games to reach the NFC Championship Game.
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In his first full season with the 49ers, McCaffrey won Offensive Player of the Year and San Francisco reached the Super Bowl. He led the NFL with 1,459 rush yards for the first time in his career.
McCaffrey had 21 total touchdowns and started the season with touchdowns in the first eight games this season. He scored a touchdown in the last seven games of 2022. McCaffrey tied an NFL record with a touchdown in 17 straight games.
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