Good luck with that, Carolina.
The Panthers, who currently sit last in the NFL with the trade deadline two weeks away, are ripe for the picking, at least if they’re open to being (reasonable) sellers.
Despite their record, it’s a team with quite a bit of young talent in Christian McCaffrey, Brian Burns, D.J. Moore, Derrick Brown, JayCee Horn, Ikem Ekwonu and others.
But their asking price for some of those names might be bit too steep.
According to Peter Schrager, the Panthers “will listen” on offers for the likes of McCaffrey and some of those other names.
But to pry them away will take, “multiple picks and multiple first-round picks before they even start listening about trading off their prime assets.”
In other words, McCaffrey will not get moved. Not if it takes multiples first-round picks.
While he’d cost an acquiring team just about $1 million this year, he’d cost roughly $12 million (non-guaranteed) in each of the following seasons. While his bona fides aren’t up for debate and that contract could be re-worked, he’s injury prone and, more importantly… a running back, arguably the most replaceable position in the NFL.
McCaffrey is certainly in another echelon, and his pass-catching abilities make him invaluable, but he still plays a position where the 49ers have had success while (currently) paying the second-lowest figure of any team in the NFL this season at $4.25 million per OverTheCap.
It’s not a position worth that price tag for them or anyone else.
The last time a running back was traded for a first-round pick? Trent Richardson, in 2013. The highest price tag in a trade for a running back since then was Duke Johnson, going to the Texans for a third-round pick in 2019.
Even that outrageous Ricky Williams trade in 2002 didn’t include multiple first-round picks. Miami sent New Orleans a first, second and future third, getting back Williams and a fourth-round pick.
Sufficed to say, as good as McCaffrey is, multiple firsts is not happening.
