Arrowhead Report's Tucker Franklin and All Panthers' Schuyler Callahan break down the Kansas City Chiefs and Carolina Panthers' upcoming game and discuss if Panthers running back Christian McCaffery will return from injury.
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00:00 But I want to talk about Christian McCaffrey.
00:01 Matt Rulis said that he was, he practiced last week, I believe, correct me if I'm
00:05 wrong, but a short week, they had a Thursday game, so I don't, he didn't play then.
00:09 And then now he's practicing all this week with hopes of playing.
00:14 So what is Christian McCaffrey?
00:15 Obviously, I know he's the best running back in the league, but
00:18 what does he add to this offense to make them more successful?
00:22 >> Well, I mean, he adds so much.
00:23 I mean, I think Mike Davis did a really good job stepping in and
00:26 he really outperformed my expectations for him as long as many others.
00:31 Because I actually coming into the season,
00:33 I said that Mike Davis wasn't a good enough backup for Christian McCaffrey.
00:37 And boy, was I wrong on that, he has proved everybody wrong.
00:41 But I think it's just another gear.
00:44 I think Mike Davis is very dependable in the passing game,
00:49 just as much as McCaffrey can be.
00:51 But I think again, McCaffrey just got that extra step on him.
00:55 And he can just, he's got more wiggle to him, he's faster, he's a lightning rod.
01:00 I mean, he can strike at any moment.
01:02 Mike Davis is kind of more of your tough yardage guy.
01:04 He's going to fight for extra yardage,
01:07 what you need to have to offset the strengths of McCaffrey.
01:11 But this offense, we've never really seen it hit full stride at full strength,
01:16 because McCaffrey went down in week two.
01:18 And at that time, they were still trying to figure out themselves.
01:21 So I don't even know really if McCaffrey even plays this week.
01:25 I'm not so sure that it really helps this offense,
01:28 because he's got to get back up to game speed.
01:31 And they have to readjust how their play calls are made,
01:35 because they've been doing this without him for six games now.
01:38 So I don't know how much of effect he's really going to have.
01:42 >> That's interesting, I didn't really think about that aspect of it.
01:44 Obviously, he's such a great talent, generationally a great talent.
01:48 What did you think about his contract extension this season?
01:50 I know he kind of took a little bit of heat,
01:52 the Panthers took a little bit of heat for extending running backs.
01:55 People on Twitter especially don't like extending running backs.
01:58 What did you think about the deal?
02:00 >> I've never been a huge running back guy in terms of giving them a lot of money or
02:04 drafting them in a top five pick.
02:07 But this is a little different.
02:09 And I think you're gonna start to see this with a couple of other guys like
02:11 Alvin Kamara, we've already seen.
02:13 Kansas City's got one in their own and Clyde Edwards-Hillary,
02:17 who I think is gonna be a really, really good back.
02:20 But when you look at those three guys, they can all do multiple things.
02:25 And Matt Rule has said this,
02:26 they don't look at Christian McCaffrey as just a running back.
02:29 He's a guy that can line up at slot receiver.
02:31 He can do punt return, kick return, he can do a little bit of everything.
02:35 So when you put McCaffrey and you look at that money that they're giving him,
02:41 I mean, you could get two guys that are less talent at one receiver and
02:46 one running back, and it's still probably not gonna match the production of
02:50 Christian McCaffrey.
02:51 So why not go ahead and give that chunk of money to him?
02:54 I think it was the right move.
02:55 It's a great piece to build around.
02:57 He is still young.
02:58 He's still in his early 20s.
03:01 And with this team moving in that direction of trying to get some more
03:05 younger players, this is a huge building block for them.
03:08 And I think getting McCaffrey signed and
03:10 keeping him in Charlotte is a huge building block for what Matt Rule wants to do.
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