The Carolina Panthers traded Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers in October 2022 primarily to acquire draft capital for a franchise quarterback, but league sources now say the execution of that plan failed despite sound reasoning. Multiple sources close to the situation revealed the organization sacrificed its best player to rebuild around Bryce Young.
McCaffrey, despite injury concerns limiting him to 10 games the previous two seasons, was Carolina\'s most valuable trade asset. The organization considered edge rusher Brian Burns too valuable to move due to positional scarcity, though they later traded him to the Giants in 2024.
The 49ers, Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills emerged as suitors for McCaffrey. San Francisco ultimately offered second-, third- and fourth-round picks in 2023 plus a fifth-rounder in 2024, less than the first-rounder general manager Scott Fitterer wanted.
\"It was never like an epiphany, like, \'What a great idea! Let\'s trade Christian McCaffrey,\'\" a league source familiar with the trade discussions said. \"But to get a quarterback you have to sacrifice.\"
\"Acquiring all those assets for a quarterback made sense,\" another league source involved in the trade talks said. \"The execution of it wasn\'t executed properly with the players that were drafted with the picks.\"
McCaffrey led the NFL in rushing in 2023, won Offensive Player of the Year, and currently leads the league in scrimmage yards. Young ranks 23rd in Total QBR (45.4) despite throwing for a franchise-record 448 yards Sunday.
The Panthers are 18-41 since the trade and have not reached the playoffs since 2017. Carolina used other picks from the deal on DJ Johnson, who was released this season, and Chau Smith-Wade.
\"It didn\'t do any good,\" a league source said. \"It\'s still a shame [they] didn\'t get at least one first-round pick for him.\"