After the Panthers signed running back C.J. Anderson, Anderson said that he was looking forward to having a “great complementary” relationship with 2017 first-round pick Christian McCaffrey.
The Panthers likely have the same idea, although exactly how that complementary relationship breaks down remains a question that the team has to answer. McCaffrey ran the ball 117 times as a rookie while Jonathan Stewart toted the rock 198 times and head coach Ron Rivera said on Monday that he thinks McCaffrey would be just fine if he wound up around Stewart’s total in 2018.
“Everybody forgets when he was in college he ran between the tackles more than anybody and he touched the ball more than anybody,” Rivera said, via ESPN.com. “So I don’t see why not.”
McCaffrey carried the ball nearly 600 times over his final two college seasons and Panthers offensive coordinator Norv Turner has given backs heavy workloads throughout his career, so Rivera’s read on the situation seems like a pretty plausible one.
