Carolina signed C.J. Anderson, but I wouldn’t kick Christian McCaffrey to the curb just yet. I expect they’ll still get him on the field plenty.
Anderson, I think, just becomes the Jonathan Stewart in that offseason. Probably a slightly better version of Stewart. Anderson is too slow, but he runs hard and knows what he’s doing. He ran for 1,007 yards for Denver last year.
McCaffrey, I think, will be a change-of-pace and third-down back. He’ll probably run for 400-500 yards, and I expect he’ll catch 60-70 passes.
Norv Turner is running that offense now, and he’s always been a proponent of using running backs as pass catchers. If you look at Turner’s last 20 offenses, the leading running backs (the leading pass-catching running back) have averaged 52 catches. Most of those running backs don’t catch as well as McCaffrey does.
Unfortunately, the Panthers selected McCaffrey with the 8th pick of the draft. They used a top-10 pick on a third-down back.
But if I’m walking into a PPR draft today, I will select McCaffrey before Anderson.
| NORV TURNER: PASS-CATCHING RUNNING BACKS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
| 1997 | Brian Mitchell, Wash. | 36 | 438 | 12.2 | 1 |
| 1998 | Brian Mitchell, Wash. | 44 | 306 | 7.0 | 0 |
| 1999 | Larry Centers, Wash. | 69 | 544 | 7.9 | 3 |
| 2000 | Larry Centers, Wash. | 81 | 600 | 7.4 | 3 |
| 2001 | LaDainian Tomlinson, S.D. | 59 | 367 | 6.2 | 0 |
| 2002 | Ricky Williams, Mia. | 47 | 363 | 7.7 | 1 |
| 2003 | Ricky Williams, Mia. | 50 | 351 | 7.0 | 1 |
| 2004 | Amos Zereoue, Oak. | 39 | 284 | 7.3 | 0 |
| 2005 | LaMont Jordan, Oak. | 70 | 563 | 8.0 | 2 |
| 2006 | Frank Gore, S.F. | 61 | 485 | 8.0 | 1 |
| 2007 | LaDainian Tomlinson, S.D. | 60 | 475 | 7.9 | 3 |
| 2008 | LaDainian Tomlinson, S.D. | 52 | 426 | 8.2 | 1 |
| 2009 | Darren Sproles, S.D. | 45 | 497 | 11.0 | 4 |
| 2010 | Darren Sproles, S.D. | 59 | 520 | 8.8 | 2 |
| 2011 | Mike Tolbert, S.D. | 54 | 433 | 8.0 | 2 |
| 2012 | Ronnie Brown, S.D. | 49 | 371 | 7.6 | 0 |
| 2013 | Chris Ogbonnaya, Clev. | 48 | 343 | 7.1 | 2 |
| 2014 | Matt Asiata, Minn. | 44 | 312 | 7.1 | 1 |
| 2015 | Adrian Peterson, Minn. | 30 | 222 | 7.4 | 0 |
| 2016 | Jerrick McKinnon, Minn. | 43 | 255 | 5.9 | 2 |
—Ian Allan