The 2022 NFL trade deadline is still over a week away, but the blockbuster of the season just went down with the San Francisco 49erstrade for Christian McCaffrey. The Carolina Panthers received second, third, and fourth round picks in 2023 along with a fifth round pick in 2024 in exchange for the All-Pro running back that the 49ers acquired. The blockbuster Christian McCaffrey trade with the Panthers has 49ers Nation excited about the potential for their new offensive hero, but in reality, there are three reasons why the 49ers significantly overpaid for him.
3. He s not a Shanahan-style running back
We’ve had the opportunity to observe what a Shanahan-style running back is over the course of two generations of Shanahan coaching in the NFL.
The renowned Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan’s son, Kyle Shanahan, is the head coach of the 49ers. The younger Shanahan is a product of his father’s offensive scheme, which is well-known for its usage of zone blocking and powerful one-cut running backs who can pound the ball up the middle, hit the hole, and run.
It was with this kind of runner that Mike Shanahan had the most success developing unheralded runners into 1,000-yard backs. Big, imposing, hammering north/south backs like Terrell Davis, Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson, Reuben Droughns, and Mike Bell all amassed more than 1,000 yards of rushing.
Kyle has also had luck using RBs identical to these. These types of backs include include Alfred Morris in Washington and Carlos Hyde, Matt Breida, Raheem Mostert, and Jeff Wilson in San Francisco.
Christian McCaffery has the ability to put together runs worthy of a highlight video. Problematically, he is not the type of back who typically performs well in a Shanahan system.
2. Paying a running back that much money isn t smart
It’s become a recurring theme in the NFL over the past ten years that you can’t pay running backs a lot of money. It’s just not logical. Their professional lives are brief, and there isn’t a significant difference between a highly compensated top RB and a player you can pick up in the second, third, or fourth round of the draught (or later) using the kind of picks the 49ers gave up in the Christian McCaffrey trade.
The 49ers trade is profitable for this season. McCaffrey will only receive $690,000 from the team this year. But after that, they’ll have to pay him $12 million per season.
There is always a way out, but it would be excessive if the 49ers had given the Panthers four picks in exchange for a one-year rental.
However, only Hyde, Droughns, Gay, Davis (the Hall of Famer), Morris, and Anderson were drafted out of the group of 1,000-yard rushers mentioned above; the others went unnoticed in the draught.
The Shanahan family was the one who convinced the NFL that it wasn’t necessary to repay significant sums of money, and Kyle Shanahan recently forfeited four choices as payment.
1. The 49ers got another injury-prone player
The fact that Christian McCaffrey is prone to injuries is the main issue with the trade and the main reason the 49ers paid way too much for him.
In professional sports, there is a school of thinking that contends that teams can get by with one jerk in the locker room (a player with off-field problems). The issue arises when there are numerous of them and they band together; before you know it, you have the Portland Jail Blazers from the early 2000s.
Nothing is wrong with McCaffrey or any other 49ers star’s persona. With this 49ers deal, the team suddenly has a locker room full of guys who can’t stay on the field due to injuries.
In the previous two seasons, McCaffrey has missed 23 games. He joins a 49ers squad that has seen Jimmy Garoppolo miss 12 games over the past two seasons, Deebo Samuel miss 10, George Kittle miss 11, and Nick Bosa miss 14. Trey Lance, the team’s favoured starting quarterback, has already been sidelined for the season after just two games, and the other running backs have missed far too many contests in recent seasons to keep track of.
Therefore, the frequently injured McCaffrey is now a part of one of the NFL’s largest MASH groups.
That’s acceptable if the squad has enough depth to handle these types of frequent health setbacks. How can you develop the strength to handle these types of frequent health setbacks? Including draught selections!
This is the main reason why the Panthers were overpaid by the 49ers in the Christian McCaffrey transaction. San Francisco has long had issues with the health of its players, and they just traded four draught picks that could have gone to starters or top backups for another star who spends more time in the weight room than on the field.
McCaffrey could be able to help San Francisco go over the hump and into the Super Bowl if all goes according to plan—maybe the word “breaks” is an awful one. However, given the team’s history of injuries and lack of current draught picks as insurance (recall that they also traded a number of picks to choose Lance), this transaction is more likely to ruin the organisation and result in the dismissal of general manager John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan.
The article 3 reasons why the 49ers excessively overpaid the Panthers in the infamous Christian McCaffrey deal first appeared on ClutchPoints.
