The reports were true. Carolina Panthers rookie running back Christian McCaffrey was certainly on the field for his first session of Panthers practice after being forced to miss weeks of OTAs due to NFL rules prohibiting rookies from attending practices (aside from rookie minicamp) until their school has finished it’s final exams. He was on the field. He held a football. Multiples, in fact. He stretched. Ran. Jumped. By all accounts, his helmet fit correctly. While the debut of Run CMC had the Panthers Twitter contingent all *ahem* a-twitter, there were many interesting tidbits to glean from the final practice before the almost six weeks of “summer vacation” and the beginning of training camp in late July, and not all of them had to do with Christian McCaffrey. But who cares about those? ALL MCCAFFREY ALL THE TIME!
- “The Big Cat” Jerry Richardson was on the sidelines today watching practice, just as he was for rookie minicamp. Richardson has only attended practices that McCaffrey has participated in.
- Second year defensive linemen Vernon Butler was back on the field after missing yesterday’s session with an unspecified injury. McCaffrey has missed multiple practices, not due to injury, but due to NFL rules.
- McCaffrey lined up in the slot on the first offensive play of the team session.
- McCaffrey took practice snaps out of the wildcat with running backs coach Jim Skipper.
- McCaffrey took multiple first team reps at tailback, and second team reps at the goal line.
- Play descriptions involving McCaffrey were all the rage on Twitter.
Fake end-around to McCaffrey (lined up in the slot) leads to TD run for Stewart up the middle in red zone drill.
— Max Henson (@PanthersMax) June 15, 2017
CMC in the wild cat, runs it up the gut. Derek Anderson with a woo hoo hoo. This is fun. #panthers
— Jeremy Igo (@CarolinaHuddle) June 15, 2017
- Kelvin Benjamin exploited mismatches against smaller corners like rookie Corn Elder, using his size to corral multiple catches. Christian McCaffrey has also caught passes in his college career, and will likely catch many in the NFL.
- Corn Elder practiced with the punt return group for the second day in a row. Rookie running back Christian McCaffrey was a special teams ace at Stanford and is expected be return punts in Carolina.
- According to head coach Ron Rivera, DE Ryan DeLaire is the only Panther with an injury that will keep him from being available for the start of training camp. However, first round pick Christian McCaffrey will be available.
- When asked about Michael Oher, Rivera said that the front office is “dealing with it” and he is preparing for camp with the 90 guys who will be on the roster. Former Stanford Cardinal Christian McCaffrey is expected to be on the roster.
- Wide receiver Mose Frazier had a scrum with linebacker Luke Kuechly, and appeared to take a swing at the former NFL Defensive Player of the Year. A few minutes later, Frazier tried to redeem himself with a long touchdown catch. Christian McCaffrey did not take a swing at anyone during the minicamp session.
- From Jourdan Rodrigue of the Charlotte Observer:
Cam crashes the Christian McCaffrey party pic.twitter.com/er8vYPUD08
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) June 15, 2017
This is going to be fun. See you in July.
