Christian McCaffrey: "I Want to be in Carolina my Whole Career."

Christian McCaffrey never thought about the possibility of leaving the Panthers and hopes to be with the organization for his entire career.

The Carolina Panthers signed Christian McCaffrey to a four-year, $64 million contract extension last week, making him the highest-paid running back in NFL history. On Monday, McCaffrey spoke to the media for the first time since free agency began to discuss the Panthers’ offseason and his record-breaking deal.

There will be several household names no longer suiting up for the Panthers in 2020 including Luke Kuechly, Cam Newton, Greg Olsen, along with several others as the team has made an apparent shift towards a rebuild this offseason. Seeing a team head in a new direction - that does not appear to come with immediate winning - could potentially result in some of the few remaining key players becoming hesitant to sign long-term extensions with the club. Christian McCaffrey, who was entering the final year on his rookie deal, was not worried about the team’s future and wanted to be apart of it for the long haul.

“I never focused on signing somewhere else, that never occurred to me,” Christian McCaffrey told the media Monday. “I want to be in Carolina for my whole career… I love the Carolinas more than anything in the world and it’s somewhere I would like to call home forever.”

McCaffrey entered this offseason with zero expectations for how contract negotiations would proceed but the All-Pro continued to echo how smoothly talks went, explaining that the fact that he wanted to be in Carolina for the remainder of his career obviously helped speed up the process.

“I didn’t want to leave [Carolina], to be honest with you, and I don’t think they did either,” McCaffrey explained. “Through everything, I felt nothing but respect from the Panthers and that meant a lot to me. I knew I wanted to be in Carolina so I’m excited to get it done early so I didn’t have to miss anything and be with the team… I’m very fortunate that I get to play for a lot of great people who showed nothing but respect for me. I’m going to give them my all back.”

Respect wasn’t the only thing the Pro-Bowl running back felt from the Panthers’ organization. The immense amount of faith they had in ‘CMC’, giving him record money in his new deal, was a comforting reality. McCaffrey explained that “more than the money, it just shows that the Panthers believe in me.”

McCaffrey’s deal was worth every penny according to his head coach Matt Rhule, who spoke to the media recently, explaining how McCaffrey is not your “traditional” running back but a “centerpiece player that you can build [your offense] around.” Rhule believes that the Stanford product is an elite offensive weapon, different than other running backs, due to the fact that he can impact the game both as an elite running back as well as a receiver, which undoubtedly justifies his contract. Last season, where McCaffrey became just the third player in NFL history with at least 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season, serves as prime evidence for Rhule's take.

“To hear that from Coach Rhule means a lot and it shows that he has faith in me and that the front office has faith in me,” McCaffrey said. “I can’t express my excitement enough for being able to continue to stay in Carolina and play for a great team, play for a great coach, and for great teammates.”

What do you think about Christian McCaffrey’s contract extension with the Panthers? Does he deserve to be the NFL’s highest-paid running back? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below and connect with other Panthers fans!

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