At what point do we pull the proverbial plug on Christian McCaffrey? He’s been plagued by injuries the last two years, but if he’s right physically, he might be the most productive running back in the league.
McCaffrey, recall, averaged 2,179 run-rec yards and 16 touchdowns in the 2018-19 seasons, underscoring that his potential for greatness. Especially in PPR formats (he caught 107 and 116 passes in those seasons). But these last years, not so much. He’s played in only 3 and 7 games the last two years.
But McCaffrey is only 26, and other running backs have been able to return from injury issues in the past.
In the last 30 years, 14 other running backs have finished with top-10 overall numbers (using PPR scoring) after missing at least half of the previous season with an injury.
I’m not opposed to gambling on McCaffrey with an early pick.
BOUNCE-BACK RUNNING BACKS (last 30 years) | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player | Age | G | Run | Rec | Yards | TD |
1992 | Ricky Watters, S.F. | 23 | 14 | 1013 | 405 | 1418 | 11 |
1994 | Harvey Williams, Oak. | 27 | 16 | 983 | 391 | 1374 | 7 |
1997 | Robert Smith, Min. | 25 | 14 | 1266 | 197 | 1463 | 7 |
1999 | Dorsey Levens, G.B. | 29 | 14 | 1034 | 573 | 1607 | 10 |
2007 | Clinton Portis, Was. | 26 | 16 | 1262 | 389 | 1651 | 11 |
2012 | Jamaal Charles, K.C. | 26 | 16 | 1509 | 236 | 1745 | 6 |
2013 | Knowshon Moreno, Den. | 26 | 16 | 1038 | 548 | 1586 | 13 |
2014 | Arian Foster, Hou. | 28 | 13 | 1246 | 327 | 1573 | 13 |
2015 | Adrian Peterson, Min. | 30 | 16 | 1485 | 222 | 1707 | 11 |
2015 | Danny Woodhead, S.D. | 30 | 16 | 336 | 755 | 1091 | 9 |
2015 | DeAngelo Williams, Pitt. | 32 | 16 | 907 | 367 | 1274 | 11 |
2016 | LeVeon Bell, Pitt. | 24 | 12 | 1268 | 616 | 1884 | 9 |
2018 | David Johnson, Ariz. | 27 | 16 | 940 | 446 | 1386 | 10 |
2019 | Leonard Fournette, Jac. | 24 | 15 | 1152 | 522 | 1674 | 3 |
2021 | Joe Mixon, Cin. | 25 | 16 | 1205 | 314 | 1519 | 16 |
—Ian Allan