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- Best Record-Breaking Performance for scoring a touchdown in 17 straight games.
- Best NFL Player for his 21-touchdown season in which he amassed 2,023 yards from scrimmage.
Christian McCaffrey was nominated for 2 ESPY awards: Best Record-Breaking Performance and Best NFL Player🔥
— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) June 26, 2024
The winners will be announced on July 11th pic.twitter.com/3fYVEujoZZ
In 16 regular season games, McCaffrey rushed for 1,459 yards and scored 14 touchdowns. And if that wasn't enough, he added 564 yards receiving on 67 catches, and another seven touchdowns. The 49ers star running back was dominant statistically, but even more than that, he changed the 49ers offense. In addition to giving the team an even more dynamic rushing attack, McCaffrey adds a dimension to the passing game that few running backs do. He runs crisp routes, has excellent hands, and can score from anywhere on the field.
In the same way that running backs before him, like Roger Craig, Marcus Allen, Marshall Faulk, and LaDainian Tomlinson created mismatches for their offense, McCaffrey is a safety net for his quarterback and can take a short dump off for a big gain. It's impossible to overvalue the importance of a running back who can also be a threat in the passing game.
Former Chicago Bears great, Mike Singletary, speaking about Craig, said, "You had to prepare for Roger because you didn't know how he was going to beat you, out of the backfield, as a blocker, up the middle. He was a mismatch..." The same can be said for McCaffrey. You have to prepare well because he can beat you in multiple ways. He's a mismatch.
And what can we say about his NFL record of 17 straight games scoring a touchdown? That's an incredible accomplishment. Is McCaffrey the best player in the NFL? He might be. And even if he's not, it's hard to find a bigger mismatch.
- Marc Adams
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Written by:Speaker. Writer. Covering the San Francisco 49ers. Host of the 49ers Camelot show.
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