After spending his entire NFL career thus far with the Carolina Panthers, superstar running back Christian McCaffrey was traded to the San Francisco 49ers last season.
The trade seemed like a long time coming for McCaffrey, who was ecstatic about the move, which no one could blame him for considering the direction the Panthers were going in.
However, with McCaffrey calling the move to San Francisco the best thing that had ever happened to him, he received some criticism from Panthers fans, which he took to heart after spending so much time with the franchise.
In an attempt to clear the air, McCaffrey wants fans of the Panthers franchise to know that there are no hard feelings or bad blood via NFL.com.
“I do want to make it clear that was nothing against Carolina when I said that. I have no bad blood and I love everybody there. I still keep in touch with a lot of my teammates there and a lot of the coaches who I had the privilege of playing for there.”
Obviously, when a star player of McCaffrey’s caliber gets traded and is thrilled to be sent packing, it won’t rub the fanbase of his former team the right way nine times out of 10.
Although it’s hard to blame McCaffrey for wanting out and being happy for landing on a Super Bowl title contender right away, it’s not surprising to see some backlash for what was said and how things went down.
Fortunately, both the 49ers and Panthers seem to be headed in the right direction moving forward, with Carolina building through the draft by recently bringing in quarterback Bryce Young and San Francisco potentially in contention to win it all for the next few years.
The real question for both franchises is whether the 49ers truly are the real deal and if Young is the right quarterback to build around in the years to come.
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