Heading into the San Francisco 49ers' Monday Night Football matchup with the Carolina Panthers, Christian McCaffrey insisted he had no extra motivation in facing his former team for the first time, saying there's "always added motivation," as he takes "every week extremely seriously."
Whatever his motivation may be on a weekly basis, the Niners are undoubtedly still thankful during this Turkey Day week that they made the deal to bring the Stanford alum back to the Golden State three years ago. And they were indeed thankful to have him on the field Monday night, as Brock Purdy struggled something fierce in his second game back from injury, throwing three interceptions on three consecutive San Francisco possessions in the first half before eventually settling in.
McCaffrey, meanwhile, had the prototypical CMC kind of an outing, rushing for 89 yards and a touchdown and adding another 53 yards on a team-high seven receptions, ultimately averaging 4.6 yards per touch in the Niners' 20-9 victory, which kept San Francisco in the top seven in the NFC playoff picture.
In addition to keeping the 49ers in the final Wild Card slot, McCaffrey also maintained his position as the frontrunner to win Comeback Player of the Year, which is basically a two-man race with six weeks remaining in the regular season.
Christian McCaffrey continues to lead Comeback Player of the Year race
Following his outing against the Panthers, McCaffrey now has 796 rushing yards for the year, good for 10th in the NFL, and also ranks 10th in the league with 785 receiving yards on a league-high 81 receptions.
Add those figures together, and his 1,581 total yards from scrimmage lead all players, with Indianapolis Colts superstar running back Jonathan Taylor sitting in second with 1,465. McCaffrey's 12 total touchdowns are good for a tie for third among all players alongside Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams, trailing only Taylor (17) and Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs (13).
The three-time Pro Bowler is also on pace to reach both 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards, a feat that has been accomplished by just three players in NFL history. McCaffrey, of course, is one of those three players, joining the club while still with the Panthers by tallying 1,387 rushing yards and 1,005 receiving yards in 2019. The other two members of the club are Niners legend Roger Craig (1985) and Marshall Faulk (1999). CMC would obviously become the first to reach this rare feat for a second time.
So, it's clear to see why McCaffrey deserves the Comeback Player of the Year award.
While Colts quarterback Daniel Jones and Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson have made strong cases throughout the season, the toughest competition CMC faces right now would have to be Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who ranks fifth in the league in completion percentage (69.3), third in passing yards (2,941), tied for second in TD passes (23), and seventh in passer rating (102.6).