Running Back Christian McCaffrey Landing In the Mile High City Soon?

By Jordan Long

The NFL trade deadline is on November 1^st.  The Carolina Panthers might be interested in trading running back Christian McCaffrey. One landing spot that has been mentioned is the Denver Broncos.

                McCaffrey enters his 6^th season with the Panthers.  He has been with the organization since they drafted him with the 8^th pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.  McCaffrey has been very productive, not only as a rusher, but as a pass catcher as well. In his career he totaled 3,911 rushing yards and 32 touchdowns on the ground.  In the passing game McCaffrey added 383 catches for 3,203 yards and 18 touchdowns.

                This year McCaffrey has put up solid numbers for the Panthers.  He has run the ball for 324 yards and 2 touchdowns.  His average yards per rush is 4.5 yards.  When comes to pass catching, he has totaled 188 receiving yards and 1 touchdown.

                The Panthers might think about dealing McCaffrey.  They fired Head Coach Matt Rhule and could be rebuilding the offense.  The Broncos may be a landing spot for him.  McCaffrey would be going home.  He was raised in Colorado.  His father, Ed McCaffrey played for the Denver Broncos from 1995 to 2003.

                The Broncos need a running back.  Their top running back, Javonte Williams, suffered a torn ACL and LCL occurring  in week 4’s loss against the Las Vegas Raiders.  The Broncos want depth at the position.  They have Melvin Gordon, but they can’t trust him in the backfield.  He fumbles way too often with 4 this season, far too many. 

                The Broncos don’t have a lot of depth after that.  Mike Boone has shown flashes of what he can do, but Boone is not a guy who can carry the rock many times in a game.  Boone has rushed for 58 yards this season.  The other Broncos’ running back is Latavius Murray who has yet to play a game.  The Broncos signed him from the Saints’ practice squad.

                McCaffrey would improve the running back core for the rest of the season.  He is a player who can not only run and catch passes, but also block to give quarterback Russell Wilson more time to throw the football.  The Broncos might as well place a call to the Panthers.  It couldn’t hurt to see what the asking price is. It may be too high but at least the Broncos explored the possibility.  

For the Panthers, though it doesn’t make sense to trade McCaffrey.  He is their best running back.  They need to keep him in Carolina for years to come if they want to build a Super Bowl winning team.  The Panthers will do what is best. They may not be interested in letting McCaffrey go.