The Panthers selected Stanford RB Christian McCaffrey with the 8th overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft. McCaffrey was a do-it-all weapon for the Cardinal, tallying 3,622 yards and 21 TDs on the ground and 955 yards and 8 more scores through the air over the past 2 seasons. His breakout 2015 campaign — as a true sophomore — featured 2,019 rushing yards (2nd most in the country), 45 catches and 645 receiving yards. McCaffrey was the only player in FBS to lead his school in both rushing and receiving. This past year wasn’t quite as productive, but he still totaled 1,913 yards, averaged 6.3 yards per carry and scored a career-high 16 TDs. He also contributed in the return game, and his 6,191 all-purpose yards over the last 2 years are the most over any 2-year span in FBS history. McCaffrey is lightning-quick on tape and confirmed that with elite 3-cone and shuttle times at the Combine. And despite going just 5’11 and 202 pounds, he proved capable of handling a big workload at Stanford, averaging 23.6 carries per game and missing just 1 contest over the past 2 seasons. McCaffrey figures to share the rushing load with Jonathan Stewart and dominate passing-down work in the short term. Longer term, he’s a guy who could approach or even top 300 total touches.
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