Christian McCaffrey
Christian Jackson McCaffrey is an American professional football running back for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League. He played college football for the Stanford Cardinal and was selected by the Carolina Panthers eighth overall in the 2017 NFL draft. As a sophomore in 2015, McCaffrey was named AP College Football Player of the Year and was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. He holds the NCAA record for most all-purpose yards in a season.
McCaffrey holds numerous NFL and Panthers franchise records and is one of three players ever to record 1,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season, doing so in 2019. McCaffrey was traded to the 49ers in 2022 and was named the 2023 Offensive Player of the Year after leading the league in scrimmage yards and touchdowns en route to an NFC Championship and an appearance in Super Bowl LVIII. A member of the McCaffrey football family, he is the son of Ed and brother of Max, Dylan, and Luke.
Early life
McCaffrey was born in Castle Rock, Colorado, on June 7, 1996, the son of former Stanford and NFL wide receiver Ed McCaffrey and former Stanford soccer player Lisa McCaffrey. He attended Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, Colorado for his freshman year and then Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado under coach Brent Vieselmeyer for the rest of his high school career. He played running back, wide receiver, cornerback, and punter. He broke numerous Colorado high school records including career total touchdowns, career all purpose yards, career touchdown receptions, and single season all-purpose yards. He was the Gatorade Football Player of the Year for Colorado in both 2012 and 2013. He also played basketball.McCaffrey was also a standout sprinter on the track and field team. As a sophomore, he placed second in the 100-meter dash at the Mountain Vista Boulder Invitational with a wind-assisted career-best time of 10.75 seconds. As a junior in 2013, he finished sixth in the 100-meter dash and ninth in the 200-meter dash at the CHSAA State Meet.
Considered one of the best one hundred football players in his national high school class, he was selected as a 2014 U.S. Army All-American. He was rated by Rivals.com as a four-star recruit and was ranked as the third best all-purpose back in his class and 77th best player overall. He committed to Stanford University to play college football.
College career
Freshman year
McCaffrey played in all 13 games as a true freshman for the Cardinal in 2014. He shared the backfield with Remound Wright, Barry J. Sanders, and Kelsey Young. In his collegiate debut, he had a 52-yard receiving touchdown against UC Davis. He finished the year with 300 rushing yards on 43 carries and 251 receiving yards on 17 receptions with two total touchdowns.Sophomore year
McCaffrey had a breakout sophomore season in 2015. He surpassed Barry Sanders' NCAA record of 3,250 all-purpose yards, finishing with 3,864. McCaffrey ranked second in the nation with 2,019 rushing yards, becoming the first Stanford player to rush for 2,000 in a season. He also set numerous other Stanford records during the season including rushing yards in a single game and all-purpose yards in a game.McCaffrey was a consensus All-American and was the Associated Press College Football Player of the Year, Pac-12 Player of the Year, and Paul Hornung Award winner. He also finished second to Alabama's Derrick Henry in the 2015 Heisman Trophy voting.
He set the school record for all purpose yards in a single game in the Pac-12 Championship against USC with 461 total yards.
During the 2016 Rose Bowl against Iowa, McCaffrey became the first player to rush for over 100 yards and have over 100 yards receiving in a Rose Bowl game. Overall, he set a new Rose Bowl record with 368 all-purpose yards, breaking the previous record set in 2012 by Wisconsin's Jared Abbrederis.
Junior year
Through the end of the 2016 regular season, McCaffrey led the nation in all purpose yards. He led the Pac-12 Conference in rushing yards and ranked fourth in the nation in rushing yards per game. After being injured during the Cardinal's 42–16 loss to Washington State on October 8, McCaffrey sat out for the team's 17–10 victory in the 2016 edition of the Notre Dame-Stanford rivalry the following week. McCaffrey set a Stanford single-game rushing record with 284 rushing yards against California. McCaffrey was named to the 2016 All-Pac-12 first-team and was named the CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year. After the season, he decided to forgo his senior year and enter the 2017 NFL draft.On December 19, McCaffrey announced he would not participate in the team's Sun Bowl game against North Carolina, opting to skip the game to prepare for the NFL draft. His decision was met with mixed reactions; supporters agreed it was a smart decision, while those opposing considered the move selfish, and potentially detrimental to college football should other players follow suit. Radio host Mike Greenberg, in defense of McCaffrey, said, "Calling Christian McCaffrey a quitter for skipping an exhibition game to prepare for his career is the height of just not getting it." By 2018, NFL draft prospects sitting out bowls had become much more common and caused little controversy among fans.
College statistics
Professional career
Pre-draft
McCaffrey received an invitation to the NFL Combine as one of the top running back prospects entering the draft and completed all of the required combine drills and participated in positional drills. He attended Stanford's Pro Day, but was satisfied with his combine numbers and only ran positional drills for the NFL scouts and representatives. McCaffrey was projected to be a first round pick by the majority of NFL experts and analysts. He was ranked the third best running back in the draft by Sports Illustrated, the fourth best running back by Pro Football Focus, and ranked the second best by NFLDraftScout.com and ESPN.Carolina Panthers
2017 season
The Carolina Panthers selected McCaffrey in the first round with the eighth overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft. He was the second running back taken, after fourth overall pick Leonard Fournette.On May 4, 2017, the Carolina Panthers signed McCaffrey to a four-year, $17.2 million contract with a signing bonus of $10.7 million.
McCaffrey made his NFL season debut in the Panthers' season-opener against the San Francisco 49ers and recorded 47 rushing yards, 38 receiving yards, and a lost fumble in a 23–3 victory. In Week 3, against the New Orleans Saints, he had nine receptions for 101 yards. In Week 5 against the Detroit Lions, McCaffrey scored his first career touchdown on a six-yard shovel pass from quarterback Cam Newton. In Week 9, against the Atlanta Falcons, he scored his first career rushing touchdown on a four-yard rush in the second quarter. In the team's Monday Night Football win over the Miami Dolphins, McCaffrey scored twice–one rushing and one receiving–and totaled 50 yards. In Week 15, in a victory over the Green Bay Packers, McCaffrey brought his season total to 73 catches and five receiving touchdowns, being the only rookie running back in NFL history with at least 70 receptions and five touchdown catches before being joined by Alvin Kamara later in the season. The following week, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, McCaffrey brought his catch total to 75, breaking the Panthers rookie record of 74 set by Kelvin Benjamin. He finished his rookie season with 435 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns, 80 receptions, 651 receiving yards, and five receiving touchdowns. The Panthers made the playoffs as the #5-seed. In the Wild Card Round against the New Orleans Saints, he had 16 rushing yards, six receptions, 101 receiving yards, and one receiving touchdown in the 31–26 loss.