Christian McCaffrey's Fantasy Outlook After Ron Rivera's '1,000/1,000' Comment

Describing Christian McCaffrey as the Carolina Panthers running back is accurate, but it's not the full truth as the 22-year-old has already become one of the NFL's most dangerous dual-threat talents. 

Panthers head coach Ron Rivera would likely agree with that assessment, seeing as he told Jourdan Rodrigue of the Charlotte Observer that he believes McCaffrey has all the tools to become a "1,000/1,000 guy" in 2019. 

Being a "1,000/1,000 guy" refers to racking up 1,000 rushing yards as well as 1,000 receiving yards. In 2018, McCaffrey rushed for 1,098 yards and added 867 receiving yards. On top of that, the 2017 No. 8 overall selection set the league record for most receptions by a running back (107). 

It is not at all a stretch to think McCaffrey could catch for at least 133 more yards next season, especially given Carolina's depleted receiving corp.

Rodrigue also relayed that Carolina does not want to take away his volume of touches but rather aims to be more efficient with him when he's on the field. This contradicts Rivera's comments in February to ESPN's David Newton (h/t CBS Sports) that the Panthers "will seek ways to ease McCaffrey's workload."

Fantasy owners will assuredly be happy to hear Rivera may have changed his mind. 

Heading into 2018, ESPN's fantasy expert Matthew Berry noted that McCaffrey averaged 1.16 fantasy points per touch, which counted for the fourth-highest among players with at least 100 touches. "Increase touches coming this year," Berry wrote.

Last season, McCaffrey eclipsed 20 fantasy points in five games while posting at least 15 points in 10 contests, per CBS Sports. 

And now, McCaffrey is heading into 2019 expected to at the least maintain his involvement in the offense from last season, if not see more involvement. Under that logic, the world's worst mathematician could tell that McCaffrey is due then for an even more productive campaign.

Bryan Strickland of the Panthers' official site made a compelling case for McCaffrey as a No. 1 pick in fantasy drafts: 

"The fact is, when fantasy draft articles come out next preseason, many of them will feature a top five that is comprised entirely of NFC running backs: Todd Gurley, Saquon Barkley, Ezekiel Elliott, Alvin Kamara and McCaffrey.

"Of those five standouts, McCaffrey was the only one to rank among the top 10 players on fantasy football rosters that made the playoffs in ESPN standard leagues. Then come the fantasy playoffs, McCaffrey was on more ESPN championship rosters than any other player—37.8 percent of them to be exact."

The only other running back on Carolina's roster ahead of next week's NFL draft is Elijah Hood. While there's no way of knowing if the Panthers plan to add a back in the draft to split McCaffrey's workload, the odds of McCaffrey relinquishing control of the backfield are slim. 

"I played in every game last year, felt great," the budding star told Kevin Patra of NFL.com last week. "I can do it again. I feel I can do it over the next many years. ... I would definitely like the ball as much as possible."

When it comes to constructing a championship fantasy squad, take McCaffrey's word for it.