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Could the Carolina Panthers trade up (or down) for Christian McCaffrey?
By
Jeremy Igo,
in Carolina Panthers
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Have you even been reading my posts? I'm not so sure because you seem to insinuate that I'm expecting some monster year 1 season, but I've time and time again said I'm only expecting 800 yards from him as a rookie. Because like you said, it's not in his control, we have a bunch of good receiving options and two 1k yard RBs in what should be a run first offense. And yes, I'm very much a T-Mac homer, I've never once denied it, I'm an Arizona alumni who has been open about that from the very first thread I made about him over 18 months ago. But that doesn't mean I'm blindly expecting him to be an All Pro as a rookie, I just know more about his game than most people here who watch his highlights and breakdowns. Which generally focus on the things he does best and worst to highlight his best abilities (his downfield contested catches) and where he needs to improve (separation) as those are the two things fans care most about when talking about the draft. What those breakdowns don't cover much are the "boring and mundane" things he does very well and exactly what you are talking about needing for Bryce. He was constantly used in the short passing game, whether they be WR screens or quick slants, to get the ball in his hands and let him make plays, it's why he was 5th in the Big 12 in YAC last year. With his size and hands, when he runs a quick 5 yard slant in front of the defender and the QB delivers the ball on time with anticipation, creating buckets of separation isn't needed, he's going to make the catch and then get some YAC for a 1st down. Go watch the 30 minute YT videos that string together every catch he made last year (or the same thing from 2023) and you'll see those plays constantly, but in the analyst breakdowns leading into the draft those things don't get discussed as much as the big plays and then the things he needs to work on, because they're just not as "sexy" to talk about as those. Per your ask... He has 3 main things he needs to improve upon, and again, "needing to improve" doesn't mean "he's terrible" at them, just things he can get better at, like all young players have things to work on. 1. His get off at the snap. For all the amazing things he did for us at Arizona, this was always the thing that would frustrate me the most, as he generally was a bit slow to fire off the line. The nice thing is even in the minimal clips we've seen from rookie mini camp, his initial fire off the line already appears to have been sped up a lot, he clearly has been working on that in the lead up to the draft. 2. His separation Yea, he's not a 6' quick twitch athlete, so his separation is never going to be at the level of a Chase or Jefferson. I've always admitted that, but because he's not one of those guys, he also brings a lot of things that those others can't. His catch radius and hands are why I'm not as concerned about his separation, because he's so good at making those contested catches by snatching the ball away from his body to where the defender can't get to it to break it up. But yes, he does still need to get better here, just as all rookies have things to improve upon. 3. Using his body more physically This is something that he did at times, but he also is just a great athlete for his size and would often rely on his physical abilities to make defenders miss him in the open field than just power through them, which is fine in college. But yes, at the next level, as he gets older and stronger, I'd like to see him use it more like Evans does, and that will come with time as he builds strength and develops that part of his game. Again, I implore you to to spend an hour watching those "Every catch from the X season" for his last two years in college. If/when you do, I think you're going to be very surprised by the number of times we used him in the short passing game and let him gain YAC to move the ball down the field. -
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