Nov 3, 2019; Charlotte, NC, USA; Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey (22) carries the ball for a touchdown in the second quarter against the Tennessee Titans at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

In some unfortunate news for Christian McCaffrey, the Carolina Panthers, and a lot of fantasy football team owners, the star running back is headed to injured reserve.

McCaffrey has been out since leaving Carolina’s Week 3 contest against the Texans with a hamstring injury, and the IR move means he’ll be out for at least three more weeks by rule.

Hamstring injuries are mercurial by nature, of course, especially for a football player, and especially again for a running back. McCaffrey’s injury is a fantastic example of that, because if the Panthers had known he’d still be out through Week 6 when he was originally hurt, he’d have been placed on IR right away thanks to the new rules.

Unlike the MLB rules, NFL injured reserve isn’t retroactively applicable. If it were, McCaffrey would be eligible to come back after this weekend whenever he was healthy.

That the Panthers would move him to IR now, knowing that it means he’ll be out for a few more weeks, doesn’t bode well for where he is in his recovery timeline. It’s doubly unfortunate for McCaffrey considering he missed a lot of time last year too:

It’s also worth noting that McCaffrey suffered the injury during a Thursday night game. It’s impossible to know if that was a factor, but it probably didn’t help anything.

With McCaffrey out, the Panthers will likely use a lot of Chuba Hubbard, the rookie out of Oklahoma State.

Carolina is currently 3-2 and right in the middle of the NFC playoff race, but if McCaffrey ends up missing significant time or taking a while to return to his pre-injury form once he’s back, the Panthers path to the postseason will be that much harder.

About Jay Rigdon

Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.