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Does Christian McCaffrey Hold More Value Than Ezekiel Elliott?

The Panthers running back has become one of the best players in the league, but is he the most valuable to his team?

Schuyler Callihan

Monday evening, the Carolina Panthers extended running back Christian McCaffrey to a four-year, $64 million deal, making him the highest paid running back not only in the league, but in the history of the NFL.

This past season, McCaffrey joined Roger Craig and Marshall Faulk as the only players to hit ever the 1,000-yard mark in both rushing and receiving in the same season. 

Not only is McCaffrey worth every penny, but it just goes to show you how valuable of a player he is. Many people around the league tend to think Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott is the best young back in the league, but when you stack all of the numbers up, you'll see that's not necessarily the case.

Sure, Elliott has three 1,000 yard seasons in four years, but he also had 300 plus carries in each of those seasons. The most carries McCaffrey received in one season was 287 in 2019, where he rushed for nearly 1,400 yards and 15 touchdowns and also totaled 1,005 receiving yards. To add to all of that, Elliott fumbles the ball 3.7 times per season compared to McCaffrey's 2.7 - not a huge difference, but fumbling has become a problem at times for Elliott.

To cut to the chase, McCaffrey takes a little bit better care of the football and he is a much more dangerous threat in the passing game than Elliott is. Not to mention, the Panthers need McCaffrey to perform well in order to win, where that's not always the case for the Cowboys. They have several other pieces to help them win games.

Does this mean Ezekiel Elliott isn't an elite player? No. But does McCaffrey carry more value? Absolutely. 

Elliott is a workhorse type of running back that will do most of his damage in between the tackles and at times, the Cowboys lean on him heavily, which means he's taking a pounding. He's a contact seeker and at some point in his career it is going to catch up with him. 

As for McCaffrey, he's so quick and agile that he doesn't take the same type of hits that Elliott does. Not that McCaffrey can't pound it up the middle, but he would much rather get to the perimeter and go to work. 

If we're being completely honest, the Panthers are getting the value of two starters for the price of one with McCaffrey. He's in the conversation to be the best back in the league and at the same time, is putting up some ridiculous numbers in the passing game. 

The fact that he has the third most receptions in the NFL since 2017 is undeniably impressive. He's neck and neck with guys who play the position full-time.

What's even more impressive is that he has produced at such a high level both as a rusher and a receiver at the start of his career and put up better numbers than some of the all-time greats.

These statistics are mind-blowing and are honestly too good to be true. This is video game type of stuff that he is doing and if he continues to stay healthy and produce at this level, he'll be a league MVP sooner than you think.

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Schuyler Callihan
SCHUYLER CALLIHAN

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