The San Francisco 49ers' trade for Christian McCaffrey was widely questioned when they dealt four picks to acquire the running back in 2022.
It was a deal for which the 49ers were now infamously given a C minus grade by ESPN.
Now, as the 49ers approach the 2024 season, the trade is universally regarded as an overwhelming success, McCaffrey having helped take Kyle Shanahan's attack to even greater heights with his remarkable influence on both the running game and the passing attack.
McCaffrey's impact has been such that an NFL player personnel executive believes the deal the 49ers made with the Carolina Panthers, which saw them send second, third and fourth-round picks in 2023 and a fifth-round pick in 2024, should now be considered as one of the premier trades of recent years.
The rival executive was quoted as part of ESPN's ranking of the top 10 running backs in the league, for which it polled coaches, executives and scouts. McCaffrey unsurprisingly ranked first following a season in which he was named Offensive Player of the Year after racking up a league-high 2,023 yards from scrimmage, winning the rushing title and scoring 21 touchdowns, tied for the league lead.
They attached an eye-catching label to the McCaffrey trade, saying: "San Francisco made one of the best trades of the decade when they got him [in 2022]. He's perfect for what they do."
It is difficult to argue with that assessment. At the time, the price of four picks looked like quite a steep one for a running back who, while obviously extremely talented, had endured issues staying healthy.
But McCaffrey has displayed remarkable durability since joining the 49ers, holding up amid a tremendous workload in 2023 , a campaign in which he touched the ball 339 times in the regular season.
Despite the burden he carried, McCaffrey still averaged 5.4 yards per carry last season, the highest total of his career.
Yet his influence has arguably been greater on the passing game. McCaffrey's ability to excel as a receiver out of the backfield and in the formation, combined with the evolution of the 49er dropback game with Brock Purdy under center, added new dimensions to a passing attack that led the NFL by huge margins in Expected Points Added and positive play rate as San Francisco claimed the one seed in the NFC en route to a Super Bowl berth.
The 49ers finished 2023 with a total EPA of 105.69, the Dallas Cowboys were second on 82.08. San Francisco's positive play rate was 54.1%, nearly four percentage points clear of the Miami Dolphins (50.4%) in second.
San Francisco's offense was already one of the most dynamic in the league under Kyle Shanahan before the McCaffrey trade. With McCaffrey as the focal point of the attack, it is an offense that was not close to having an equal in 2023. The trade is already a monster home run for the 49ers and, following McCaffrey's two-year extension , it's one that has the chance to get even more emphatic in years to come.
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