- The Carolina Panthers traded away superstar running back Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers.
- The move comes just days after the team moved wide receiver Robbie Anderson to the Arizona Cardinals.
The Carolina Panthers have officially folded on the 2022 NFL season, trading away their top offensive talent, running back Christian McCaffrey, to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for draft picks.
While it's rare to see such a talented player change teams mid-season, the move speaks to where the Panthers sit at this point of the year. Carolina is the worst team in football with a 1-5 record, and just fired head coach Matt Rhule.
The Panthers as they are currently built are not close to contending, and by moving McCaffrey, they hope they can get to brighter days a bit sooner than expected.
But while Carolina can hope to build towards a better future, their present looks pretty dark right now.
McCaffrey was, for all intents and purposes, the entirety of the Panthers offense, leading the team in both rushing and receiving yards through six weeks. All told, McCaffrey accounted for 38.9% of the Panthers scrimmage yards, the highest percentage of any player in the NFL.
—k y l e (@kylejaxson) October 21, 2022
But McCaffrey wasn't the only player to leave Carolina this week. Wide receiver Robbie Anderson, the team's second-leading receiver behind McCaffrey, also was traded away to the Arizona Cardinals after a sideline spat with position coach Joe Dailey.
With 206 receiving yards on the year for the Panthers, Anderson accounted for another 12.2% of Carolina's scrimmage yards this season.
Put together, and the Panthers have traded away more than half of their offensive production in less than a week.
With the draft picks they got back, the Panthers now have a bit of extra ammo to start rebuilding toward a better tomorrow.
Until then, they have to get through what is most likely to be a slog of a season in 2022.