Free Republic

The San Francisco 49ers are sending second-, third- and fourth-round picks in 2023 and a fifth-round pick in 2024 to the Carolina Panthers for star running back Christian McCaffrey, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Thursday night. The deal gives San Francisco the offensive weapon needed to compete for a Super Bowl. It also gives McCaffrey a chance to be on a winning team for the first time since his rookie season in 2017 when Carolina went 11-5 and return to the Bay Area where he starred in college at Stanford. When healthy, McCaffrey is one of the best dual...

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Running back Christian McCaffrey is plenty fast, but he doesn’t enjoy playing catch-up. McCaffrey is all about being prepared – mentally and physically. So last year, having to play catch-up as a result of missing spring practices to finish the semester at Stanford was not ideal. “That helps a lot – being able to be there in OTAs,” McCaffrey said after reporting to his second NFL training camp Wednesday. “The comfort level is definitely higher.”

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Before a reporter could go there with Carolina Panthers rookie running back Christian McCaffrey, right guard Trai Turner took it there. Turner rightly figured the discussion would turn to the fact that McCaffrey is among the handful of white players at his position in the NFL. “Have you seen him run?” Turner asked. “If you’ve seen the guy run, you don’t think about it [his race]. White, black, red, green — I don’t care what color he is. He’s special.” Nine games into his professional career, McCaffrey has flashed the talent that prompted the Panthers to...