San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey made a name for himself in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers, the team that drafted him.
That’s why McCaffrey’s recent viral comment, in which he called the trade to the 49ers “the best thing to ever happen to him,” turned so many heads.
But McCaffrey is now clarifying what he meant with those words, saying he didn’t mean them as a dig at his former franchise.
“I just felt very fortunate to be a part of something that was already so developed … like I said, a culture that was established,” McCaffrey said, according to Sports Illustrated.
“I do want to make it clear that was nothing against Carolina when I said that,” McCaffrey added. “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.”
McCaffrey began his football career at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, CO. He played collegiately with the Stanford Cardinal. The Carolina Panthers drafted him with the eighth overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.
The Panthers traded McCaffrey to the 49ers in October 2022 in exchange for a second, third and fourth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and a fifth-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
