Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey is coming off of a fantastic 2018 campaign in which he racked up 1,098 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground while averaging five yards per carry, but that's not all. McCaffrey also hauled in 107 receptions for 867 yards and six scores, making him a Fantasy Football owner's dream.
With McCaffrey entering his third NFL season, just about everyone is expecting big things from the Stanford product, and with an incredibly thin receiving corps and a potentially compromised Cam Newton, the Panthers may end up leaning on McCaffrey more than ever in 2019.
So, just what should Fantasy Football players anticipate from the 22-year-old this coming season?
Well, more of the same as far as being an all-around threat.
When Carolina drafted McCaffrey with the eighth overall pick back in 2017, this is what it was hoping for: a dynamic threat who could not only gash defenses on the ground, but also as a receiver.
But what's crazy is that while McCaffrey showed impressive pass-catching skills in college, he was never this outstanding of a receiver at Stanford, so I'm not sure the Panthers expected him to get this good, this quick.
Heck, even in his rookie season, he caught 80 passes for 651 yards and five scores, so he was a big-time threat as a receiver out of the backfield right off the bat.
The thing with Carolina is that its receiving corps is not very good.
Outside of D.J. Moore, who had a very nice rookie campaign this past season, there really is not a whole lot to trust. Third-year wide out Curtis Samuel looks somewhat promising, and the Panthers did add the experienced Chris Hogan, but the team's group of receivers certainly isn't great, especially when you take into account the persistent injury issues of tight end Greg Olsen.
That means McCaffrey could be in for a huge year with a lot of touches.
Expect Carolina to build its offense around Christian McCaffrey and give him well over 200 carries in the ground game. He carried the ball 219 times in 2018, and although the Panthers have said they want to lessen his workload in 2019, they don't really have any other capable halfbacks on the roster, so it seems hard to imagine that number being any lower than it was this past season.
I will say that it may seem a bit much to expect McCaffrey to catch 107 passes again. After all, that was a single-season NFL record for a running back, so it's entirely possible he never does that again at any point in his career.
But, realistically speaking, McCaffrey will likely record at least 80 catches, and chances are, he will end up with around 90.
So, if you are planning on using a first-round pick on McCaffrey, you are on the right track. He is unquestionably one of the top options at running back, and while he may be a cut below Saquon Barkley, Ezekiel Elliott and Le'Veon Bell, he is right there with guys like Alvin Kamara and even Todd Gurley, who, while a fine receiver in his own right, is not quite the pass-catcher that McCaffrey is.
Christian McCaffrey will almost surely rush for over 1,000 yards in 2019, and with the Panthers not having a ton of other options offensively, he may very well log double-digit touchdowns as a rusher while also picking up five or more scores as a receiver. It would not be surprising if he ends up scoring 20 total touchdowns on the season.
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