Fantasy Football: Top 15 Rookies to Target in 2017

Top 15 Rookies to Target in Fantasy Football: Number 3 – Christian McCaffrey

For anyone who read my draft coverage this year, you’ll know that I was pretty high on Christian McCaffrey. As in, I really wanted the Chiefs to trade up to draft him.

McCaffrey will be someone that Carolina can use in both the running game and in the passing game.

Instead, the Panthers lucked into drafting him at the eighth overall spot, and they’re going to be ever so lucky. Carolina will probably have Jonathan Stewart as their starter (I feel like he’s been with Carolina forever) and he performed well in 2016.

It’s worth noting that Stewart has only put up a 1,000 yard rushing season once in his career and that was back in 2009. McCaffrey, on the other hand, was a monster at Stanford and should hopefully be able to carry over that production to the pros.

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He put up over 2,000 yards rushing during his sophomore season in 2015 and really should have won the Heisman Trophy that year. The following year saw McCaffrey run for over 1,600 yards, which somehow was a disappointment for his standards. That tells you how good this kid was.

McCaffrey will be someone that Carolina can use in both the running game and in the passing game. He caught 37 passes for 310 yards last year at Stanford and should be a nice weapon for Cam Newton.

Maybe I’m just a McCaffrey obsessed freak, but he’s someone that fantasy owners shouldn’t hesitate to draft when his name first appears on the “best available” section. Dave Richard of CBS Sports even has McCaffrey as a “top 35” player on his fantasy football draft board. This kid’s going to be electric.