The San Francisco 49ers are off to a perfect 4-0 start to their 2023 season. Their impressive start is in large part due to the incredible four-game performance of running back Christian McCaffrey through the first quarter of the season.

McCaffrey leads the NFL in rushing yards with 459 yards while averaging an astounding 5.7 yards per carry. He is coming off a four-touchdown performance versus the Arizona Cardinals which earned him the NFC Offensive Player of the Week.

However, McCaffrey has revealed he wasn't initially happy when the Carolina Panthers traded him to the 49ers. Despite the trade putting the former Stanford standout back near his college town on an instant contender, McCaffrey was primarily angry when the trade first happened.

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“There are so many emotions that come at you at once,” Christian McCaffrey reflected, “because you have a home there, you feel like you’re a part of the city, you got drafted there, and I was playing relatively well. We weren’t on a good team, but I felt like I wasn’t messing up enough to where (they’d think), ‘We’ve gotta get rid of this guy,’” via Michael Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle.

“I guess I don’t necessarily know the difference between cut or traded. All I know is they’re getting rid of you. … Like, you guys don’t think I’m good enough, you don’t think you need me here anymore. That would piss anybody off. … I think it would be weird if I was all happy about somebody getting rid of me. I think that would be more of an unnatural reaction than being angry.”

Though he didn't feel great about the trade at first, it's safe to say it's working out for McCaffrey now as the Panthers drop to 0-4 while McCaffrey is putting up the best numbers of his career so far.