Bills’ CMC interest makes 49ers’ trade for him more impressive originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
As more information leaks out regarding other NFL teams’ interest in Christian McCaffrey, it becomes even more impressive that 49ers general manager John Lynch was successful in bringing the All-Pro to Santa Clara.
Earlier this week after McCaffrey’s historic performance in San Francisco’s Week 8 win over the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium, Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane confirmed rumors that his team also had an interest in the versatile running back.
Beane was the assistant general manager for the Carolina Panthers when McCaffrey was taken as the No. 8 overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft and is very familiar with the ball carrier’s skill set.
“I know it started with McCaffrey,” Beane said. “Yes, that was the last draft I was in Carolina. I know him well. When you hear that he’s on the block, I wouldn’t be doing my due diligence to not look into that.”
As Lynch often has shared, the 49ers look into all available players that they believe could be an asset to the team as a requisite part of the job. Beane went further, explaining that sometimes rumors originate from the scout that is assigned to a certain team after a call to simply see if a player is truly on the trade block.
Sometimes those rumors originate even though the original call about the player has not been returned.
“On Christian McCaffrey, I did speak to the Panthers GM,” Beane said. “Never made him an offer, but did stay in touch with him through the process. Ultimately it was going to be more than we were going to be able to do.”
The 49ers’ Week 8 performance showed that McCaffrey will be a very important feature of Kyle Shanahan’s offense. Lynch explained why it was so important to keep their plan under wraps, as to not cause a bidding war for the Stanford product.
“You want to keep these things quiet in all facets of the organization, the analytics, contracts,” Lynch said shortly after the trade was made public. “We look at it from every aspect, and everything just seemed to align that it was a really good fit, and we all appreciated his game.”
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Lynch expressed gratitude that McCaffrey’s final destination was Northern California, instead of 350 miles south with the Los Angeles Rams, where they would face him twice a season. The Bills might not be a team that the 49ers see as often, but even meeting McCaffrey in the postseason would still not be opportune.
Needless to say, the 49ers’ front office, coaches, players and fans are all pleased it worked out in favor of the 49ers.