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Is This McCaffrey's Team Now?

Has Christian McCaffrey taken over as the face of the franchise for Carolina?

Since 2011, whenever someone mentioned the Carolina Panthers, the first player that came to mind would be Cam Newton. Newton has been the face of the franchise since he was selected with the first overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft out of Auburn and has been a superstar since he came into the league. From breaking rookie passing and rushing records for the quarterback position, to being the league MVP and leading the Panthers to Super Bowl 50 in 2015, to now battling injuries, Newton has been the name associated with the Panthers. But after a few injury-plagued seasons and not as much playing time, it has given more spotlight and opportunities to others. No one has shined more in the past two seasons for the Panthers than superstar running back, Christian McCaffrey.

McCaffrey just finished up his third season in Carolina after being drafted eighth overall in the 2017 NFL Draft out of Stanford. He became instantly involved in the Panthers offense as a rookie, but it has been the past two seasons that has elevated McCaffrey to superstar status. In 2018, McCaffrey rushed for 1,098 yards and seven touchdowns. He also had 107 receptions for 867 yards and six touchdowns. It was hard to imagine him topping a season like this one, but he did just that in 2019.

Carolina fans were ecstatic knowing that they had one of the best running backs in the entire NFL teamed up with their MVP-caliber quarterback Cam Newton and excited for a huge 2019. Newton was injured early in the season, which derailed all playoff hopes. This meant that the offense would be based around McCaffrey, and it worked out pretty well. McCaffrey would go on to become just the third player in NFL history to rush for over 1,000 yards and also have 1,000 yards receiving. He finished the year with 1,387 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns to go along with 1,005 receiving yards on 116 catches and four receiving touchdowns.

The Panthers had a total of 5,469 total offensive yards in 2019 and McCaffrey accounted for 43.7% of those yards with a total of 2,392 yards from scrimmage. In addition to that, Carolina had a total of 37 offensive touchdowns and McCaffrey accounted for 51.4% of them with 19 total touchdowns.

Newly hired head coach, Matt Rhule, has been very adamant about keeping Cam Newton after trade rumors have been circulating since his hire. So, this season will be the first since McCaffrey's rookie campaign that the Panthers will look to get sixteen games from both of these franchise guys. It should also be noted that the Panthers did not win many games without Newton so having him back is vital to this teams success. But based on how well McCaffrey has performed over the past two seasons, is it time to hand over the title of "face of the franchise" from Cam Newton to Christian McCaffrey?

Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!