Christian McCaffrey trade from Panthers to 49ers: Inside story

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — In the minutes after the San Francisco 49ers had pulled off the biggest trade of the season, phones started ringing on opposite ends of the country.

At around 9:30 p.m. ET on Oct. 20 in the Bay Area, Niners general manager John Lynch had just hung up with Carolina Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer after agreeing to swap a haul of draft picks for running back Christian McCaffrey.

Lynch immediately dialed 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan to break the news that a player many in the organization thought was out of reach was now joining their roster of stars.

“We were both like, ‘Holy s—, that’s a lot,'” Lynch said, laughing. “But we got him.”

In Charlotte, McCaffrey spoke briefly with Fitterer, who thanked him for what he’d done for the organization. Moments later, as the news began to spread, McCaffrey’s phone rang again.

This time, it was 49ers tight end George Kittle on the other end. Kittle and McCaffrey had become friends a few years earlier after hanging out at several Nike events, and Kittle had been telling McCaffrey for the past couple of years that he was destined to be a Niner.

Kittle was yelling so loud that McCaffrey could barely make out what he was saying.The excitement was mutual. Even though McCaffrey didn’t want to be traded, preferring to stay in the only NFL home he’d ever known and believing strongly in his responsibility as a team captain, if he was going to land anywhere else, he wanted it to be with the Niners, with the likes of Kittle, Shanahan, receivers Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk and left tackle Trent Williams as teammates. He’d also be playing just 13 miles from where he played college ball at Stanford.

McCaffrey stopped short of trying to steer a trade to San Francisco, but the Niners were at the top of his list of potential landing spots.

“I thought it would be fun to play with those guys,” McCaffrey said. “I might have mentioned it to my agent once or twice.”

When the deal finally came together…