49ers RB Christian McCaffrey: I thought I’d be a Panther forever

Although we heard some rumblings before it actually happened, the Carolina Panthers’ trade of Christian McCaffrey came as a shock—including to Christian McCaffrey himself.

On Tuesday’s episode of Bussin’ With the Boys, the star running back told hosts Taylor Lewan and Will Compton how the surprising deal—which was made official close to midnight on Oct. 20—went down.

“For me, I never thought I’d get traded. I thought I was a Panther forever,” McCaffrey said. “I’m like, ‘I bought a house there, this is home.’ And I’d heard the rumors in the offseason. So, obviously, I called the GM [Scott Fitterer] I’m like, ‘Hey, man, I just need to hear it from you. Any truth?’ And he was super honest. He’s like, ‘Look, absolutely not. We don’t wanna do this. But, we’ll listen to everything.”

Fitterer and the Panthers listened to the San Francisco 49ers, who sent over a pretty hefty package of draft capital for the All-Pro rusher. In return for McCaffrey, Carolina received second-, third- and fourth-round picks in 2023 and a fifth-rounder in 2024.

McCaffrey then added how he felt about the trade.

“It’s so weird,” he said. “It’s a weird deal because there’s so many emotions, and the first emotion is probably anger. Like, ‘Man, you guys don’t want me anymore.’ Like, that’s really what it is. You can call it what it is. ‘Well, they got a lot for you.’ It’s like, nah—you think you’re better off without me. That’s what it is.”

Well, that is what it was. In fact, both sides were better off without one another.

San Francisco went 10-1 after acquiring McCaffrey, who earned his second career Pro Bowl nod and a second-place finish in the AP Comeback Player of the Year voting. Carolina would proceed to find an identity on offense sans their do-it-all back, as interim head coach Steve Wilks got the Panthers within one game of an NFC South title.

So while the deal may have stung a bit for the Panthers and McCaffrey when it went down, it ended up being an all-around win by season’s end.