The opening week of most fantasy football playoffs is on track to commence without Christian McCaffrey involvement. Matt Rhule said Thursday he does not expect the All-Pro running back to play Sunday, Joe Person of The Athletic tweets.
McCaffrey is dealing with his third known injury of the season. He suffered a quadriceps injury during the Panthers’ bye week and aggravated it Wednesday in practice. Rhule added the “at this time” caveat regarding McCaffrey’s status to face the Broncos, but Wednesday’s setback appears to have been significant. Prior to this new injury development, Rhule expected McCaffrey to return this week.
While McCaffrey wants to return this season, it would not surprise to see the Panthers hold him out after this injury-plagued year. If nothing else, this season has spared the 24-year-old star back some touches. After logging an NFL-most 403 in 2019, McCaffrey has just 76 this season.
Ankle, shoulder and quad maladies have limited McCaffrey to three games this season. Following his league-high 2,392 scrimmage yards and 19 TDs in 2019, the Panthers signed McCaffrey to a running back-record four-year, $64MM extension. He has been unable to stay on the field consistently enough to make an impact in Joe Brady‘s offense.
Talk about a bs season
Might as well sit him the rest of 2020. Why drag him out, all they’ll get is lower picks in the draft?
Goodluck Panthers, CMC having trouble staying on the field already isn’t a good sign. Maybe they should’ve invested that salary into their O Line instead.
It almost seems like they are finding reasons for him not to play at this point. Just call it done for the year and be done with it.
Gee that was a quality over pay signing
Terrible season. He’s soft as Butter. I would not let him play this year.
He’s a bandaid boy. Spending his money and now he’s gone soft. Never be the same.
No more tread on the tires. I was shocked at the overuse on CMC over the last few seasons. Astonished he could stay on the field. In the end, there are no supermen.
This is why Over The Cap put him on the list of the top 25 worst contracts currently in football.