49ers' Christian McCaffrey Reacts to 1st Revenge-Game Win vs. Panthers Since '22 Trade

Christian McCaffrey didn't have any strong feelings about playing against his old team for the first time since the 2022 trade that sent him to the San Francisco 49ers.

After the Niners' 20-9 win over the Carolina Panthers on Monday Night Football, McCaffrey told reporters he approached the game with a "business" mindset:

"When it comes to playing in the league you have to approach each week as similar as possible, staying in your routine. You can't get too far outside of what's normal for you, and so I tried to do that. Obviously when you see familiar faces it's always good to see them before the game, after the game, but that's a completely new team. It's really just business once the ball snapped."

▶️ Full Panthers-49ers Recap

05:13

The 49ers sent four draft picks to Carolina in exchange for McCaffrey in October 2022.

There is very little organizational overlap with the Panthers from the time McCaffrey was traded to today. They have brought in two new head coaches and a new general manager since that time.

Defensive tackle Derrick Brown and offensive tackle Taylor Moton are the two most prominent players from the 2022 team who remain on the roster.

Even though McCaffrey didn't approach the game as a revenge matchup, he did give the Panthers a glimpse of what they were missing. He finished with 142 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown on 31 touches.

The Panthers selected McCaffrey with the eighth overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft. He had more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage in each of his first three seasons. The Stanford alum become the third player in NFL history with 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season when he accomplished the feat in 2019.

As good as McCaffrey was during his time in Carolina, he has been even better with the 49ers.

McCaffrey leads the NFL in yards from scrimmage per game since the trade.

Despite not being the same explosive runner he was when the trade originally went down, McCaffrey is one of the best do-it-all backs in the league right now. He is on pace for another season with more than 1,000 rushing and receiving yards.

The three-time Pro Bowler currently leads the league with 81 receptions through 12 games.

McCaffrey has been the driving force on offense for a 49ers team that is 8-4 and owns the final wild card spot in the NFC heading into Week 13.