Christian McCaffrey: San Francisco 49ers trade for star running back from Carolina Panthers | NFL News

The 49ers will send the Panthers picks in the second, third and fourth rounds of the 2023 NFL Draft, as well as a fifth-rounder in 2024, according to reports; McCaffrey is fourth in the NFL in yards from scrimmage (607) this season despite playing for the league’s 32nd-ranked offense

The San Francisco 49ers have acquired star running back Christian McCaffrey from the Carolina Panthers for a haul of draft picks.

The Panthers announced the deal on Thursday night and it will be finalised when McCaffrey passes a physical.

The Panthers will receive picks in the second, third and fourth rounds of the 2023 Draft, as well as a fifth-rounder in 2024 as part of the deal, according to reports.

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NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport outlines how the Carolina Panthers wanted a ‘first-round equivalent’ in exchange for Christian McCaffrey, who has moved to the San Francisco 49ers.

Carolina had been seeking a first-round pick, but San Francisco had already dealt their 2023 first-round pick in order to move up the draft and select Trey Lance at quarterback last year.

The move sees McCaffrey return to the Bay Area where he starred in college at Stanford. He will joins a talented group of playmakers in San Francisco, including versatile receiver Deebo Samuel, star tight end George Kittle and promising young wideout Brandon Aiyuk.

The Niners (3-3) have had a mixed start to the season due, in large part, to the team suffering a raft of injuries, including to starting running back Elijah Mitchell, who is out with a knee injury, prompting the move for McCaffrey.

The 26-year-old has himself missed 23 games over the previous two seasons due to injuries, but has played in all six games this season and is fourth in the NFL in yards from scrimmage (607) despite playing for the league’s 32nd-ranked offense. He and Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb are the only players in the league to have five games this year with at least 100 yards from scrimmage.

McCaffrey’s best season came in 2019 when he had 1,387 yards rushing and 1,005 yards receiving, making only the third player in NFL history to eclipse 1,000 yards in both categories. He also had 19 touchdowns that season and was named first-team All-Pro.

The former Panthers back, taken with the eighth overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, provides coach Kyle Shanahan with one of the best as both a runner and receiver, adding another element to San Francisco’s offense.

McCaffrey’s father, Ed, won a Super Bowl with the 49ers in the 1994 season and two more titles in Denver with Shanahan’s father, Mike, as his head coach.

McCaffrey has a $990,000 salary this year after Carolina reworked his contract, making him an easy fit under the salary cap. He is owed about $36m over the next three years, but none of that is guaranteed.

He becomes the second skill position player to be traded this week by the Panthers (1-5) since coach Matt Rhule was fired on October 10. Carolina sent wide receiver Robbie Anderson to the Arizona Cardinals on Monday for two future late-round draft picks.

The trade leaves the already depleted, and largely inept Panthers offense extremely thin at running back with Donta Foreman and Chuba Hubbard expected to compete for the starting job and Raheem Blackshear potentially in the mix for more work.