The last two seasons of Christian McCaffrey’s NFL career have been completely derailed by injury issues.
The overwhelming consensus is that these injury issues come as a result of McCaffrey’s heavy workload in the Carolina Panthers’ offense.
Ahead of the 2022 season, the Panthers are reportedly taking a new approach with their superstar running back.
“Rhule indicates Christian McCaffrey will be held out of preseason games again, and Panthers are looking into taking a different approach with him during practices,” Carolina insider Joe Person reported on Tuesday.
The NFL world took to Twitter to react to this news.
“Hope this means they won’t be playing him over 80% of snaps right out of the gate given 0 to 100 didn’t work well for him the last two seasons,” one fan wrote.
“Just bubble wrap him at this point,” another added.
McCaffrey has played in just 10 games since his record-setting, All-Pro season in 2019. This past season, he logged 785 total yards and two rushing and receiving touchdowns through seven games as he dealt with nagging ankle issues.
After sitting out the preseason in 2021, McCaffrey came out the gates with a massive workload — notching 45 carries and 15 targets in the Panthers’ first two games. He suffered his first injury of the season in Week 3.
Perhaps the Carolina organization will do a better job of easing the injury-prone running back into the 2022 season.