When the San Francisco 49ers rewarded Christian McCaffrey with a two-year, $38 million extension on Tuesday, they did so with the intention of giving the running back more money upfront in exchange for more flexibility now and in the future. The McCaffrey contract has been called a “resetting” of the running back market with a valuation of $15.5 million per year when you combine the new numbers with his previous contract.
What’s really amazing though is that McCaffrey’s “four-year, $62 million” value in 2024 is almost the same as how the Los Angeles Rams valued Todd Gurley in 2018, when the franchise signed their franchise running back to a four-year, $57.